Tales of the Demon Fox Jinchūriki
by SkywardStrike
Summary: Soon after the battle of the Valley of the end Naruto was exiled from the village, now two years have passed. With Akatsuki hunting him and and the fourth ninja war upon the shinobi world, what will the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki do...? Grammar edits by ZyiareHellsing. Disclaimer: I dont own Naruto.
1. The Exiled Jinchuuriki

Naruto Uzumaki wasn't a bad person. Sure, he used to prank the villagers a bit, but that was it. Still, they hated him. The villagers hated him so much it burned. Why you may ask?

It was all because of the fox.

Yes, that god damn Nine Tailed Demon Fox had ruined his life. When he was still a newborn child for whatever damned reason the Fourth Hokage decided to seal the fox inside him. Why him? Why turn a life of some random kid a living hell? He hated the Fourth. He never cared much about the man's decision….at least not until that day.

It wasn't much after he fought with Sasuke at the Valley of the End, but the elders decided he could turn into a danger with the Akatsuki hunting him. What was their solution? They thought the best way was for him to be banned from the village. Somehow the so called, confidential matter that should have been discussed between the higher-ups of the leaf became known to the public. They had armed for it to happen. Naruto was sure. And so, a public opinion was formed and the 5th Hokage had no choice: he had to leave the village that afternoon, not to return.

It was a sad day for Naruto. His last meal at Ichiraku Ramen, him packing up all he could, his goodbye to the fifth…she cried. Naruto had only seen Granny Tsunade cry once. And so, at the end of the day, while the villagers watched, Naruto walked his way out of the village through its gate.

It was there that he expected his friends to say their goodbyes to him, but no one got near him. He saw Ino, Shino and Neji at the distance, but that was it. Nobody came to him. Not Hinata, the shy girl who had helped him at the Chunnin Exams. Not Rock Lee, the boy full of youth who was always trying to push himself harder and considered Naruto his rival. Not Shikamaru, the lazy boy with incredible intelligence. Not even Sakura, his teammate, his friend, the one he loved…no one came to say their goodbyes.

And so, Naruto left the village. Jiraiya, his master, had apologized to him. The elders said that anyone who accompanied him would be classified as a missing nin, just like him. Naruto didn't know why he was to be classified as a bad guy when the village was the one who had done wrong, but this was the least of his concerns…besides: the ANBU black ops probably wouldn't go after him, not at first.

Naruto looked at the villagers, they were holding back smiles, and he knew it. He turned again, his dream to be Hokage crushed, his friends nowhere to be seen, the only person besides the Hokage and Jiraiya who tried to protect him had been Iruka, with no success. It suddenly began to rain. Naruto looked up and then glanced at the village he used to live in with tearful eyes. And there, in the rain, he made a promise. "I am never coming back here again." The boy said before continuing walking towards the only direction he could: forward…

_Two and a Half Later..._

It might had been a quiet day on the Hidden Leaf Village, hadn't the Hokage called a considerable number of Chunnin and a Jonin to her office. The Chunnin were: Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Rock Lee and Tenten while the Jonin was Neji Hyuuga.

"Do you know why I called you all here" Asked Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage of the leaf.

"A mission?" Kiba guessed in an angry tone of voice. He was still a bit mad at the security for not letting Akamaru inside the Hokage's Mansion….

Tsunade nodded in response. "As you know, it's been almost two and a half years since Naruto Uzumaki was forced to leave the village." As she said this, Hinata suddenly looked depressed and even sobbed. Everyone in the room knew of her obvious crush on the Uzumaki boy. Despite disapproving her feelings said missing nin, Neji managed to calm her down quickly.

"As I was saying…" The Hokage continued. "It has been two and a half years since he left the village, the ROOT now have him as a target. They asked me for the permission to hunt him down, and despite the elders approving their request; I managed to convince them that such extreme measure would be unnecessary. That is where the seven of you come in: your mission is to find Naruto and bring him back unharmed, however if he tries to resist, you have my permission to capture him by force. Any questions?"

Neji walked in front of the small group looking a bit disturbed by the mission he was given and how It might end up affecting those around him. "How are we going to find him? He could be anywhere…" Whispers were heard around the room before Tsunade silenced the Chunnin with a warning look.

"As for that...Our Anbu were trying to locate him for months now, and yesterday we received a report of one of them that supposedly saw him near the borders of the Land of Hot Water but soon lost him. You seven are to head there to find and contact him. Any other questions?" Nobody answered. "Good. You are to leave before the sun sets with Neji Hyuuga in command. Dismissed."

The Chunnin and Neji walked out of the office discussing about the mission, apparently everyone had something to say…except Hinata Hyuuga, who remained quiet. "Hinata…" Sakura said as she approached the shy girl. "I know what you're going through, it's the same with me…when Sasuke left I…" Sakura tried to continue but apparently couldn't find the right words. "What I'm trying to say is…Is that I can't guarantee you everything will be alright, but…I do think Naruto will come back with us."

That thought seemed very impossible for some reason, but it made Hinata smile lightly. "Thank you Sakura Chan, you're right…Naruto would never give up on his dream of being Hokage."

Sakura gave her a sad smile before telling her she had to work at the hospital before running off. Hinata knew it was just an excuse for Sakura not to show sadness in front of her in her current state, Sakura was Naruto's best friend, she cared for him. Hinata also knew of the feelings Naruto had for her, but she didn't mind much, as long as he was happy, she'd be happy. The young Hyuuga Heiress took a deep breath. She had to prepare herself for the upcoming mission.

_Later, near the borders with the Land of Hot ater…_

The sun was setting when the self-named Naruto retrieval squad set off. Each one of them was wearing a white cloak (everyone except Akamaru), the name being a reference to the team who went after Sasuke two years ago.

Sakura was thinking about her loudmouth teammate…the ROOT would probably kill him if they failed! This time it had to go right…she wasn't completely sure of what she said to Hinata, but they had to try…there was only one question left: how much had Naruto changed? They'd know soon enough…

It was morning when they arrived in a small village near the Land of Hot Water's border. Before entering the village Neji divided them into groups: Hinata and Sakura, Shino and Tenten, Rock Lee and Kiba (and Akamaru) and him alone, one tracker in each team. The orders were to track Naruto down and not to engage in combat alone under any circumstances. With their orders given, the four groups went their separate ways.

Time passed and nothing was to be found, no rumors, chakra signature, smell…nothing. That is until Hinata and Sakura asked an old woman about the boy. "Blonde with whisker like marks on his face…? Yes, there was a boy like this here yesterday at the town's inn, you should check there." With hope of finding who they have been looking for, the two girls got to the Inn and asked about the boy. Luckily for them Naruto had been there, but unfortunately he was no longer in the town, he had left the day before. "Thank you." Hinata said before leaving. Her and Sakura found the three other groups and explained to them the situation.

"That means he must have left by the main road…" Neji realized. "If we can rush there's the chance of finding him" That thought motivated the team to go on and so they did. Neji looked for strong chakra signatures while Kiba tried to sniff him out.

_Later, somewhere else…_

It was Midday when the group stopped to rest; Hinata affirmed seeing a nearby source of water and went after it. "I will go with you, Lady Hinata." Neji said. "You don't know what you may encounter." Hinata however didn't like the idea; she wanted some time alone, some time to think.

"You're tired Neji, you overused the Byakugan. It's better for you to stay here." She said in an attempt to persuade her cousin.

Despite seeing the reason in her argument, Neji still opposed her. "Fine….but Shino will go with you!" Neji said.

"Hey, why Shino? Why not me?!" Kiba shouted in reply.

Neji gave Kiba a suspicious look. "I don't really trust you with her, Kiba…" He expressed as Kiba proceeded return the look Neji had given him but in an angrier version as Shino and Hinata went to look for the water source the Hyuuga heiress had spoken of.

Shino wasn't much of a speaker, so Hinata didn't mind having him around. She knew he probably wouldn't try and talk to her. However, the Aburame was very observant and saw right through her. "Is something wrong, Hinata?" Shino asked in his usual tone as they walked. Hinata was a bit surprised he had spoken; then again it was quite obvious she wasn't happy.

All she could do was to sigh. "I…I just don't know how Naruto-Kun will react to us, what….what if he is changed?" Shino didn't answer her, so she continued. "I know he was exiled from the village, but…what if he is not the cheerful and happy Naruto we used to know, but someone…different…"

Shino nodded behind her. "I don't think Naruto would-" Before he could Finish Hinata heard a loud hitting sound as if something had fallen on top of Shino.

She tried to turn and see what was wrong but before she could do so she felt something cold, sharp and made of metal pressed against her neck. "You've got ten seconds to tell me who are you and what the hell you are doing here." Said a male voice behind her.

Hinata took a deep breath and activated her Byakugan." "Gentle Fist Art: One Blow Body!" She shouted, throwing the unknown enemy back with a blast of chakra. When she turned and tried to fight back her attacker, the man was nowhere to be seen, not even with her Byakugan she could find him. The only thing there was an unconscious Shino. She then heard a small sound above her, Hinata managed to turn in time but she couldn't react to the falling object (or person) as it fell on top of her and threw the Hyuuga down on the ground.

When she opened her eyes she saw a Man pressing a blade against her neck. "Wait a minute…" said the man. "I know you…" She then recognized him, he wasn't a man, he was a teen, same age as her. His blond spiky hair had grown a bit, but his whisker marks and bright blue eyes were the same…she almost couldn't believe her eyes…

She had always thought of the day she would meet him again. "Naruto-kun…"

**Author's Note: SO...the very first chapter of my very first fanfiction...i won't lie, i am very nervous.**

**Oh, and i know the first chapter wasn't very good...but please give me a chance, the story will get better soon, i promise!**


	2. Fighting Old Friends

Naruto was different from what Hinata remembered; he was wearing a white shirt over mesh armor but under a black long sleeved cloak with a red whirlpool symbol on his arm, next to his right shoulder. The same symbol presented itself on the cloak's back but in a bigger version. He also wore black baggy pants with a belt that held a scabbard and black sandals. She finally noticed that around his neck was a necklace with a faintly glowing crystal under his shirt. Naruto wasn't wearing a forehead protector and somehow the look on his face had changed...

Naruto looked the girl eye in the eye until a memory of a Chunnin exams that seemed so long ago came to his mind. "Hinata…that's your name, right?" He asked the girl.

Hinata suddenly took consciousness of the awkward position they were and resisted a blush."…yes." She answered, for some strange reason she sounded...hesitant...as if danger was nearby. Naruto got off her and turned his back on the girl, as she got up Hinata got to take a second look at Naruto's appearance. His blade was a katana with a white hilt and a bronze ornamented guard, along with it he carried a black scabbard, like his sword it was also ornamented with bronze. The way he carried the blade at his side strapped in a belt made him look more like a samurai than a shinobi. As for his physical appearance Naruto was more muscular and taller than last time she'd seen him…she could go as far as to say he was more...handsome...Hinata blushed at her own thoughts.

As she tried to get closer to Naruto something she didn't quite expect happened. He grabbed his sword's hilt and pointed the metal blade at her neck. "Stay back!" He shouted. Hinata was heartbroken, how could that boy she used to know so well, the one who was so friendly and happy end up like this? Naruto was breathing heavily as if he was tired and looked at her eyes with evident doubt.

Naruto sheeted his sword back into his scabbard and turned his back at her. "This never happened." He told the Hyuuga as he walked away.

Hinata was highly confused on what he had just said. "Wait." She shouted, running to him. Hinata put her hand on the blonde's shoulder, but he simply swat her hand aside before continuing walking. "…what happened to you, Naruto-kun?" He stopped. Hinata saw he was shaking with anger.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" He turned, shouting at her. "I was abandoned! THAT'S what happened!" Hinata was backing up on the boy's rage. "THEY LEFT ME ALONE, EVERYONE DID! I was about to leave and you know who said goodbye to me? Nobody! You know why? Because nobody even CARED! You all left me ALONE AND HELPLESS!"

Hinata carefully choose her words in an attempt to calm Naruto down. She knew that if she didn't choose the right words she might have made the situation even worse than it already was. "But, Naruto-kun…the Hokage…she wants to bring you back to the village! You don't need to be alone!"

Naruto looked at her with such rage in his eyes that she didn't imagine possible for him of all people to have. "Come back!? Are you mad? Do you know what they'd do to me?!….wait a minute…" Naruto looked at her like he had just realized something important. "…you came here to capture me! That's it, right?" Hinata wanted to say that she'd never do something like that but the words got stuck inside her. She then realized that capturing him was exactly what they had come here to do. "You of all people…" He said with a mixture of rage, sadness and disbelief in his voice. "…and you're not alone I see."

As he said that five more people and a snow white colored dog nin landed making a circle around them, Hinata's teammates, the Naruto retrieval squad. "You guys…" Naruto said with a bitter tone after seeing his old friends after two and a half years.

Neji looked at Hinata then at Naruto and realized that the situation wasn't good at the say the least. "LADY HINATA! Get away from her, Uzumaki…" Naruto gave Hinata an emotionless look before grabbing her by the jacket and throwing her at Neji like she wasn't really a person, Neji caught her before she fell back.

"Take her." Naruto said. "And fuck off, I wanted a fight but people like you...not worth my time." The tone Naruto said that showed pure disgust in his voice, which surprised them all, was that the same Naruto they all used to know…?

"We don't want to fight, Naruto…" Kiba warned him.

Naruto looked at the Inuzuka with an amused expression. "If that is so then let me be, dog boy." Kiba shot an angry look at Naruto but did nothing.

Sakura on the other hand didn't have the same patience. "You're coming back whether want you to or not!" Sakura shouted as she tried a punch aiming at Naruto's face, which he only blocked with his right hand, surprising everyone. Naruto had never reacted at Sakura's violence towards him.

"Well, well… if it isn't my old teammate? You know Sakura, it took me leaving the village…" Naruto tightened the grip he had on the girl's hand. "..to see how much of a BITCH you were!" He then twisted her fist in a way that made the girl scream in pain before releasing it, making her fall back.

"Naruto…why?" Sakura asked with tearful eyes.

"Because you all abandoned me." Naruto answered coldly. "Because only The Hokage and Pervy Sage came to my aid when everyone wanted me out of the village." He started walking away but Neji stepped in front of him.

The Hyuuga looked him eye in the eye before warning him: "We are not going to let you live like this, Naruto. You are coming back with us be it willingly or not…"

Naruto cockily smirked at Neji's warning as if it was only a joke. "I will kick your ass and prove I'm right again if you try me." The branch Hyuuga tried to hold back his growing anger as silence dominated the group.

"We don't want to do this Naruto…" Kiba said, breaking the silence.

"Shut it, dog boy…unless you want your ass handed to you again too."

And it was then that Kiba lost it.

"I'll show you who is going to get its ass kicked!" Kiba dashed at Naruto and tried to punch him, but the Uzumaki body flickered to the top branch of a nearby tree.

"Wow, Kiba! Did you get slower or is it just me?" With that comment, Naruto managed to make Kiba even angrier.

"AKAMARU! FANG OVER FANG!" The Inuzuka shouted to his canine companion as him and his dog suddenly started dashing against Naruto at high speed while spinning. Naruto simply jumped off the branch and high on the air above the trees as Kiba followed him. "Now we got you!" Both Akamaru and Kiba tried to hit Naruto simultaneously as he jumped over the trees, the Uzumaki simply spun his body and landed two simultaneous kicks at the fangs, throwing Kiba skyward and Akamaru towards the ground.

Naruto then noticed Neji Hyuuga jumping towards him making a paw sign with his hand and punching the air. "Eight Trigrams: Air Palm" He shouted, releasing a wave of chakra traveling through the air at high speed.

Naruto took the hit on a defensive stance and was able to spin midair and land on a tree by focusing the chakra on his feet; however he had to move fast as Tenten appeared out of nowhere and opened a scroll shouting. "Get a hold of this!" As she said that, a storm of kunai knives, swords and other sharp objects Naruto didn't recognize came out of her scroll and towards him, the Uzumaki was able to dodge it by letting himself fall off the tree and landing on the ground on his feet.

However, the boy was surprised to see Sakura preparing a chakra enhanced punch with her good hand. Naruto was barely able to pass under her arm and dodge the punch. He turned to look at Sakura and jumped back, making sure she wouldn't try any of her monster punches again but was caught off guard when Neji tried to attack him from his back.

Naruto almost couldn't dodge the attack Neji sent at him, but was able to synchronize with the Hyuuga fairly well in a style of taijutsu that required mostly blocking, sometimes dodging and always trying to find an opening on the Gentle Fist's semi perfect defense.

Naruto eventually committed the mistake of trying to hit his opponent with air kicks, which managed to force him to back off. Thinking he had found an opening, Naruto jumped in the air and tried to hit Neji in the face with a punch but was thrown down on the ground. If it wasn't for a fast series of blocks, two dodges, a kick and a quick work of getting back up, he would have been defeated by the Hyuuga there. Naruto continued fighting Neji, this time adding fast and low kicks to his style of fight. Both opponents eventually forced each other to jump back.

As soon as he was in a considerable distance from Neji, Naruto made two fast hand seals and shouted. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The boy spit a ball of fire towards his opponent, who reacted just as the blond expected.

Neji prepared his arms before spinning his body while releasing chakra from his fingertips. "Eight Trigrams: Rotation!" The Hyuuga was suddenly inside a sphere of spinning chakra that protected him from Naruto's fireball. However, the rotation destroyed the ground under it, raising dust. And that was when Naruto saw the opportunity he was waiting for at bay.

As soon as the sphere of chakra stopped spinning he came out of the dust raised by the rotation, unsheathing his blade while landing its hilt at Neji's chin and stunning him momentarily. With the other hand, Naruto focused on spinning chakra in different directions, he then hit the Hyuuga with the attack in his stomach. The Rasengan exploded and launched Neji back, knocking him out. "One down, five to go." Naruto marked.

As soon as he said that, he was forced to jump right, dodging a green flash that landed beside him. "DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Rock Lee shouted as he kicked the ground next to Naruto "KONOHA WHIRLWIND!" Lee shouted again, this time aiming a kick at Naruto's head, the Uzumaki ducked right before Lee's foot passed above him.

"We're taking you back with us, Naruto!" Rock lee shouted as he dashed towards Naruto in amazing speed, right before he reached The Uzumaki, Naruto disappeared, and so did Rock Lee. All the Naruto retrieval team could see were two blurs, one black and one green, trading blows at amazing speed. They only saw both again once Rock lee and Naruto Clashed nun-chuck and sword.

"I won't come back, Lee!"Shouted Naruto.

"Then we will take you back by force!" Lee said as he kicked Naruto only to realize he was kicking a log with a paper bomb in it. The substitution exploded, throwing Rock lee away. Naruto reappeared on top of another tree.

"You act like you can…" Was all Naruto said as he looked at Lee being thrown against the ground. 2 down, 4 to go.

Naruto was then surprised by Tenten, who appeared behind him with a pair of tonfa in hand trying to strike him. However both ended up clashing and jumping above the trees while fighting katana sword versus tonfa midair. "You think you can defeat me when both your teammates failed to do so?"

Tenten continued to attack more vigorously as Naruto stayed in defense, what he didn't expect was the loud and annoying voice behind him. "Tunneling Fang!" Shouted Kiba advancing in his drill like attack towards Naruto, that was when he had the idea, he grabbed Tenten's arm and threw her against Kiba, who didn't get the time to stop and knocked the girl out while throwing her against the ground. "You bastard! I'll-" Kiba was interrupted by a punch in the face landed by Naruto, the punch threw him down to the ground and knocked him out cold.

"Four out of five." Naruto said as he was landing, he barely needed to look for his next target as Sakura landed with a fist in the place he was a second ago, if it wasn't for his sense of smell and the mastery at the body flicker technique he acquired in those two years and five months, he would have never been able to see Sakura coming. "You…"Naruto said. Sakura looked at him with a sad expression, judging by the way she punched the ground the girl had already healed her bad hand.

She advanced against him again and Naruto was forced to dodge a series of punches and a kick until he could finally jump back. "I don't want to hurt you Naruto…"

Naruto sighed. "Hurt me? You?" He then began laughing. "Tonton could do more damage than you!"

Sakura looked at him with an angry expression. "We'll see about that." That was when Naruto noticed that he was surrounded by seven trees, and each tree had some kind of piece of paper attached to them. Were those…paper bombs…? Oh crap.

"…boom."

Sakura activated the paper bombs making the whole place around Naruto explode and making a sound that could be heard from kilometers away. She knew the fifth had told her not to worry about hurting Naruto, but she had her doubts… Sakura walked to the crater of the explosion to find a Naruto with his clothes damaged, but alive. She smiled at the scene before the Naruto disappeared in a poof of smoke and out of the smoke came another Naruto punching Sakura in the chin and throwing her up in the air before she feel to the ground, unconscious .

"A good try, I'll give you that much…" Before he could say anything else he heard a female voice shouting behind him.

"Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fist!" He couldn't turn back in time and suddenly a strong pain hit his back, making him fall on the ground with everything around him going black.

**Author's Note: This chapter was basically ready so here it is: early post. Naruto's attire...well, that was inspired in many characters. Him in his hokage clothes on NUNS 2, Ichigo in his bankai mode, Menma...etc. Big thanks to Bankai777 for posting the VERY FIRST Review of the story. Just for the note: I have no idea were i am going with this, so...be ready for anything.**


	3. Confessions and News

Naruto woke up tied up to a tree with his whole body hurting, as if he had been hit painfully many and many times…the pain was somehow familiar… before he could ponder much about it a female voice interrupted his line of thoughts.

"So…you finally woke up…" Naruto then looked up only to see Hinata Hyuuga and realizing they were in a small campsite. "You woke up soon, Naruto-kun." She said. "Nobody else has woken up yet so you might as well rest." As she said that Naruto realized that it was because of the demon fox inside him that provided him with inhuman strength, stamina and healing powers that he had awaken before the rest of the team...the damn thing wouldn't even let him sleep now…

"Hinata, let me go!" He said, trying to sound tough...which wasn't easy when you were tied up to a tree.

Hinata only gave him a sad look and sighed. "I wish I could Naruto, but I…"For some reason she didn't continue what she was about to say. Naruto looked at her confused because of that. "I blocked all your chakra points while you were asleep, you won't be able to use chakra for some time." So that's why his Pain was so familiar… Neji had used that tactic against him when they first fought. He had easily countered it by calling forth the Nine Tail's chakra, however this time he had an opportunity to ask some questions that had been bothering him ever since he meet with Hinata. He wouldn't miss it.

"Why do you want to capture me?" He asked, starting conversation.

"If we don't do it, the ROOT will start hunting you down, Naruto-kun…" She replied. Was she that much of a fool? Unless…

"No, I mean the real reason, the reason behind that." Naruto demanded.

Hinata suddenly looked at him with a confused and curious expression. "That is the real reason, what other reason would we have?" So she didn't know about his little secret…that could make things interesting…

"Hinata…I'm about to tell you something you shouldn't know…" As he said that Hinata's curious and confused expression transformed into suspicion.

"A secret…?" She asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, a secret. Do you know the day I was born?" When she didn't answer Naruto assumed that meant a no, so he continued. "October 10th…" He said with a grin in his face. "15 years ago."

Hinata might not have been very good with dates but she certainly knew what that date meant. Everyone in Konoha did. "But that's…"

Naruto smiled. "Do you know what happened that day?"

Hinata nodded as if she was scarred to answer, but somehow she managed to answer him. "That was the day the Nine Tailed Demon Fox attacked the village."

Naruto nodded once more. "And…?" He asked.

"And…the fourth Hokage slayed the beast." She answered; Naruto could feel a weird hesitation in her voice...all was going according to plan.

He smiled yet again, this time however it was a darker expression. "Ah! But that's what history tells you! No…the Fourth Hokage couldn't kill the beast so you know what he did?"

He asked, Hinata must have known the answer but she still asked. "What…?"

Naruto's face was suddenly dead serious his dark smile had vanished. "He sealed it. The Fourth Hokage decided to sacrifice his life by sealing the Nine Tails into a newborn child with the aid of the Reaper Death Seal. This child grew up to being shunned by the villagers and was eventually exiled from Konoha at age 13." The silence was deadly.

"You…" Hinata said, horrified. That face she made was a face of fear, disgust, so much mixed together… Naruto hated that expression.

"Yes. I became something the village uses to intimidate the other nations. I became a political toll, in times of peace I must be useless, but now they need me. Something must be going on." He said.

"But…but the Hokage…" Hinata managed to stutter out.

"Tsunade is smart, that's true. But the elders are smarter; they must have found a breach in their deal and will use it to make my life a living hell." Hinata's face was a mixture of expressions, he expected her to get away from him, to shout, maybe even to try and kill him, if she succeeded it would be better than being used by the village. But he never expected what happened next.

Hinata's face suddenly looked down as if she was about to make a choice she might later regret and she pulled a kunai from her pocket, she used it then…to cut the rope binding Naruto? "Go." She said.

Now Naruto was stunned to say the least, this couldn't be happening, it was a trick. "Excuse me?" He asked with confusion clear in his tone of voice.

"Go!" She shouted to him again, he could see she was about to cry.

What? No! This didn't make any sense! It shouldn't be happening! Why was she doing this? "Why are you doing this?"

"It's better for you to live as a missing nin than to be used as a weapon by the village itself!" She answered. Naruto didn't understand. Why would she be doing this for him? She would fail her and everybody else's mission to save him? Why? She had no reason…unless…

Then the idea hit him. "You like me?" He told her as if he had a sudden realization but was uncertain of it. He expected her to laugh at that but instead her crying face became red and she tried to cover it with her hands, confirming his theory. "That explains so much…" He said. "The Hyuuga Heiress has feelings for the host of the demon fox…isn't irony a bitch…but…why?"

Hinata expected herself to become quiet, maybe even look away at a situation like that…instead to her own surprise she answered Naruto's question. "Because… you weren't affected by what other people thought of you, Naruto-kun….even tough so many people called you a failure…you never gave up…you did your best to prove them wrong…I want to be like that…I want to be like you…like…like you used to be at least…that's why I….that's….that's why I love…you." By the time she finished Hinata looked and felt like she was losing conscious.

Love? He thought she liked him….but love?! Hinata's confession left the boy speechless. "Hinata…I…" Naruto shook his head, he was confused and he was uncertain "Then….then why didn't you come to say goodbye when I left the village…?"

Hinata looked down, ashamed. "I wanted to but…my father…he said I shouldn't try to be friendly with you, he prohibited me to go…at time I didn't understand why….but…now…" Naruto didn't know what to do….for someone that hadn't had any people who cared for him in most of his childhood a love confession was something unexpected, something Naruto didn't know how to react to. Should he say thank you? Should he kiss her? Should he just walk away? Man, this is awkward…

"Hinata I….I need to go." Was all he managed to say in the situation. Hinata was surprised by the tone the boy used while talking to her. It was apologetic and awkward at the same time but it was way better than the tone he had used while talking to her earlier that day. "If I don't go now…" Naruto then looked at the other team members who were still unconscious.

Hinata understood the message. "Then go." She said, a bit sad.

Naruto got up hesitantly, grabbed his sword and started to walk away, trying not to make eye contact with the Hyuuga. Hinata watched the boy walk towards the setting sun, but after he had walked about 10 meters from her he turned and gave her a small but genuine smile. "Hinata…thanks." Hinata looked, surprised by his words before he made a hand seal and leaves started spinning around him for some seconds before he disappeared. She could swear she saw a faint red aura coming from the boy as he disappeared.

Hinata couldn't help but to smile after seeing that the old Naruto was still alive somehow. She then looked back at her unconscious teammates and wondered what would she tell them once they woke up…?

_Later, somewhere south of the country of fire…_

That day, Naruto ran. He wanted to get away, to leave his past behind. He didn't want to see his so called friends. He had forgiven Hinata…she had proved herself to him. But still…Naruto couldn't pull himself to forgive the others for leaving him alone and not coming to his defense when he was forced to leave the village. That night he stayed awake, thinking about his old life once again as he looked at a certain necklace worth mountains of gold.

He sat on a high mountain cliff while watching the full moon that presented itself high in the sky. For one moment he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He shouldn't have done that. Once he opened his eyes again he was no longer in the cliff, watching the full moon, he was in a cage with water on his knees, watching a giant nine tailed red fox that presented itself inside the cage.

"Oh great…" Said Naruto sarcastically. "What do you want?"

The fox let out a laugh…or a roar…Naruto wasn't quite certain. "What is it…? Can't I talk to my own Jinchuuriki?"

Naruto was a bit confused. "Your what now?"

The fox sighed. "JINCHUURIKI. Or host if you prefer. In other words: You." The Kyuubi then pointed to Naruto.

"Me…? Ok then. Anyway, did you call me here for nothing or what?" Naruto asked.

"No, I didn't…there is something I need to tell you, so listen carefully."

The young Jinchuuriki looked at the fox curiously. "What is it?"

The boy noticed that the demon fox's tone and expression turned dead serious. "Do you know about the concept of us, the Tailed Beasts?" The fox asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, you told me already. There are nine Tailed Beasts with tails from one to nine, one being the Shukaku or Ichibi and nine being you, Kyuubi." As he said the fox's name for some reason Kyuubi's expression turned grim. Maybe it was just Naruto's mind playing games with him…or maybe not.

"Yes, we are all linked; we can feel each other's presence...however…"

Naruto looked curious. "However…?" He asked.

"However earlier today, while you were unconscious…the presence of the seven tails, Nanabi, vanished." The fox's claim sounded a bit ridiculous to him.

"A Tailed Beast vanished…? But how is that possible?" He asked.

The Kyuubi sighed at the boy's answer. "Can't you see it, Naruto? This means that the Akatsuki has started moving again…"

The news shocked Naruto more than the Kyuubi expected. "The Akatsuk!? No…you must be mistaken! As far as I know they would only start to hunt me after three years of my departure had gone by! It's been only two years! "Naruto shouted , still in disbelief of his Tailed Beast's words.

"Yes, they would hunt for YOU! But apparently you are a troublesome target, so they started capturing the weaker Tailed Beasts." Naruto never thought he would be so scared of something like the Akatsuki. When he was still a leaf he had felt the power of two of the most powerful members. Kisame Hoshikage and Itachi Uchiha. Both men had managed to win against his old sensei Kakashi Hatake and two other Shinobi of Jonin level. They were no one to play with.

The Jinchuuriki looked at the Kyuubi with a question ringing in his mind. "Have you got any idea of who they will hunt down next…?" He already knew the answer to the question, but he wanted to be certain.

"We both know that. Think. If the power of the tailed beasts is denominated by the number of tails they will go for the weakest target, like any good hunter would." Naruto looked at the water that touched his knees. He wondered where did all that water had come from…the only thing he knew was that it wasn't clean water, he could tell that much.

"They will hunt down Gaara." Naruto answered. He knew Gaara wasn't weak, Naruto even heard he had managed to become the Fifth Kazekage, however if his tailed Beast decided to go berserk he would be easier to contain than any other Tailed Beast. The reason the seven tails was captured before the one tail was a mystery to Naruto. However, one thing was clear. Akatsuki's next target was no one less than Gaara of the sand, the Jinchuuriki to the Shukaku."I'm not letting them take Gaara. I'm going to help him." Said Naruto much to the Kyuubi's surprise.

"What?! You can't be seriously considering this…" But that was a rhetoric question, the fox knew he was serious; he always was when it came to stuff like that.

Naruto looked at his open palm as it closed into a fist. "If I have to choose to hunt or be hunted…"

The Kyuubi didn't seem to like the idea tough. "I won't let you sacrifice me so you can save that idiot Shukaku! I told you this so you can prepare yourself to run and hide from them! Not so you can confront them, you idiot!"

Naruto looked the fox eye in the eye and opened a smile much to the Kyuubi's surprise. "I will take down anyone who tries to hurt my friends. Gaara is still one of the few people I trust…And if you don't want me to go and help him that's YOUR problem…not mine!"

As he finished his sentence he saw the fox shaking with anger. "Naruto… Don't you dare-" The fox couldn't finish since Naruto interrupted him.

"Go to sleep, Kyuubi…" The boy said as he closed his eyes and opened them again. He was sitting on a cliff, watching the moon and with the First's necklace in hand. "…because I have got a lot to do now."

**Author`s Note: Too bad, i have no reviews...well one, but i answered it last chapter. This was the chapter the may get my fanfiction the genre romance...or maybe not. Well, for now i had enough of NaruHina, next ill do something with some action. Please leave a Review, be it good or bad. Seriously, having no reviews gives me the impression i am doing something wrong, and if i am i want to know what.**


	4. Capture of the Kazekage

"WHAT?!" That was the 5th Hokage's response after the Naruto Retrieval squad had reported the mission to her. "How couldn't you bring him back…? Don't you all know what that means?!"

Tsunade laid back in her chair with a worried expression on her face, the one that stepped in to talk was the team's leader, Neji. "Lady Hokage…please, we tried but, Naruto…he-"

"HE…is a Genin…facing against Anbu black Ops, do any of you know what that means?!"Tsunade snapped before Neji could even finish talking.

"Naruto seemed to handle himself pretty well against us…" Kiba said. "I doubt he will be captured that easily."

Sakura nodded, following Kiba's line of thought. "Naruto displayed an impressive set of skills he probably learned while he was traveling, with speed equal to Lee's, A taijutsu level comparable to Neji's, ability with Kenjutsu, a one handed Rasengan and also a fire nature technique. None of us were able to damage him in any way. I think not even the Anbu will be able to stop him…" Said the Pink haired girl.

Tsunade seemed to calm down after hearing a full detailed explanation of Naruto's techniques despite her and all present in the Hokage's office knowing that he hadn't shown his full powers. He had only used two real jutsu, and that against Neji. Arguably the strongest in the team as well as the leader.

The Hokage sighed. She couldn't really blame the squad for failing, they were up against Naruto and…well, Naruto was no pushover. No matter the opponent the kid just wouldn't give up, even if his life was at risk Naruto wouldn't stop fighting, no matter what…but…that boy had changed. All the squad members had agreed with Sakura about Naruto's new cocky and provoking attitude…all but… "You are all dismissed." Said Tsunade, much to everyone's surprise. They started to walk away when… "Not you, Hinata." The Hokage Said. "I want to talk with you."

Upon being called Hinata looked nervously at Neji, who only smiled and nodded at her. She walked to the Hokage's desk and sat on the chair. "Hinata…I know you're quiet…" Tsunade said. "But that was ridiculous. You said nothing while you and your team reported…you only said that after Naruto took Sakura down, you tried to fight him but suffered the same fate, later you woke up before the others and brought everyone back to the camp."

Hinata clearly looked nervous as Tsunade said that. "And…? All due respect, I don't see what's wrong Lady Hokage."

Tsunade Sighed. "Hinata, do you think I'm stupid? You may fool them but you can't fool me…something else happened. What was it?"

The Hyuuga looked down before meeting eyes with Tsunade and started talking about what happened...until she reached the part where Naruto started to tell her about the fox. "…Naruto then said he wanted to tell me a secret. And…he did."

Tsunade was surprised by this. "He told you?! Damn it, Naruto…I should have thought of the possibility of him changing to the point where he would tell somebody about the demon fox..."

Hinata looked at Tsunade, worried. "Lady Hokage…I couldn't bring him back, but…Naruto Kun told me that if he was brought back people would do horrible things to him!" She said.

Tsunade shook her head signalizing a no. "I would never let them do any bad to Naruto, Hinata…"

That still didn't calm down the blue haired Hyuuga down. "He also said that the elders would manage to find a way of tricking you and he said…that they needed him to show their power to the other countries. He also said that, that meant something was happening for them to want to try and demonstrate their power to the other villages…"

Tsunade couldn't help but to be surprised at Naruto's extreme change. "He told you a lot, Hinata…indeed, something is happening…knowing the information you now do I think that I have no reason not to tell you... The Land of Water, Lightning and Earth made an alliance. This has never happened before in the history of the five great countries. If a country has an alliance with two other countries, than its already something is bound not to last long…however, three countries simultaneously formed an alliance one with another, this is not normal…we think…depending on each country's interests that this might lead to the 4th Great Ninja War."

Silence was suddenly present in the room. Hinata knew well the concept of an alliance and what benefits it could bring…her own clan made various alliances with other clans from outside the Land of Fire. Usually those were forged by a Marriage of State, in other words an alliance formed by the marriage of two important clan members. The Hyuuga probably planned to marry Hinata with a heir to another clan once the opportunity came. They would also probably do that to Hanabi once she came of age. She didn't like to think about that, even though her father's relationship with her had gotten better since her first Chunnin exams, there was no way he would ever let her have a relationship with Naruto...despite that relationship being such a farfetched thought at the moment she couldn't help but to dream, could she…?

"So now you know…" Tsunade said. She never planned on telling the Hyuuga girl the possibility of an upcoming war; however she felt like she wouldn't regret her decision. "Please, Hinata...I ask of you not to tell or comment about what you learned from Naruto and from me with anyone, ok?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes, I promise! I won't tell anyone about what you and Naruto told me, Lady Hokage." She promised.

Tsunade smiled. "Thank you. You are dismissed." Tsunade watched as the young girl got up from the chair and walked to the door. She wished she was still that young…that was when she realized she had forgotten to ask Hinata to finish explaining how Naruto escaped her…well, it wasn't important. For some reason the way Hinata spoke of Naruto managed to calm her down and even to make the Hokage put her trust on the boy once again. He could take care of himself. Still, she couldn't help but wonder what happened between the two teens…she hoped it wasn't something that caused Hiashi Hyuuga to hunt down Naruto personally…nah, the boy wouldn't do something like that. Despite her reassurance, the fifth sighed. "Naruto...where are you?"

_Two days later, near the Village Hidden in the Sand..._

A young man was walking the path towards the Hidden Village in the Sand. He was wearing a white cloak and a hood over his head, consequently all that showed on his face was his whiskers marks and blue eyes as Naruto walked towards the gates of the village. He had planned it all; he would get there and go after Gaara to warn him of the Akatsuki. He didn't know how he would be able to pass through the guards. Naruto would certainly appear suspicious; a hooded young man walking towards a hidden village in the middle of the night…a transformation jutsu also wouldn't work with the guards. If he was forced to beat them up so he could get past the entrance he would. Naruto sighed while looking at the sky on top of the high walls of the village, earlier he had seen a white bird flying there, but now all he saw was the night sky and the twin walls.

Under that cloak he wore only his pants, his sandals, his T-shirt and his mesh armor. He felt pretty weird without his sword, the Yamato, strapped at his side. The Uzumaki had been forced to seal it along with his cloak in a scroll so he could enter the village normally. The last thing he'd want was Sand Shinobi looking at him badly, even tough as he previously decided; he would knock them out if it was deemed necessary. Naruto continued to drift into his thoughts until something brought him back to the real world: an explosion.

The only thing that he could think at that moment was, "What the hell was that?"! Naruto dropped his cloak on the ground and began running towards the wall, even though the night air felt cold on his skin he didn't care. Naruto made two clones that went ahead of him making a line, him being the last one. As they got close enough to the wall the first clone prepared a kick with his right leg, the second one grabbed his feet, holding tight with both hands and entered in position for a kick too, Naruto grabbed the third clone's leg as clone number one kicked into the air, launching the original Naruto and clone number two towards the wall.

Naruto grabbed and opened the scroll that he had been keeping inside his pocket; from there he got back his black cloak with no hood and his Katana, the Yamato. He jumped on the clone's back, still attaching the Katana to his waist and dressing up in the cloak. He took impulse on the other Naruto's back and jumped into the air and landed on the wall's side by focusing chakra in his feet. The boy then began running towards the top, hoping it was not too late.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…" Naruto jumped and landed on top of the wall in a very stylish way. At first he didn't take notice of it, he looked around and saw that he was alone at the top of the wall; he then looked at the village.

"Oh…wow!" Was all Naruto managed to say.

Out of the Village's ground, sand was rising forming an enormous dome in the night sky closing little by little, the most impressive thing about it was that it had Gaara's chakra in the middle of it. He then sensed a chakra that wasn't Gaara's coming out of the sand. There was someone else there, with strong chakra; he could almost say the chakra was of an Akatsuki…Naruto felt so stupid! How could he have let an Akatsuki come after Gaara like this…but then again something in his head told him it wasn't really his fault…however the first voice won when at the distance he saw a white bird fly and grab the Akatsuki that had fallen out of the now closed sand dome. It was the same bird he had seen earlier… he felt like face palming himself. Then again Gaara WAS strong, the giant sand dome in the sky was the proof.

It was then that things took an unexpected turn of events. The Akatsuki managed to get closer to Gaara and suddenly something big, the size of the bird he was on appeared next to him and began to fall on the village. "What the hell is he-" Just then an explosion momentarily blinded Naruto, after a few seconds the wave of impact hit the boy and forced him to focus the chakra on his feet and to block in a defense position as the wind blew his cloak behind him.

The son of a bitch Akatsuki…he had blown up the village. As Naruto opened his hands he saw a gigantic shield of sand raised high on the air in the place where he had seen the explosion happening. "Gaara…" Just then another explosion in a much smaller scale appeared high in the sky and Gaara's chakra was gone. "GAARA!"

Naruto rushed and jumped off the Sand's wall to land on the rooftop of a nearby house. The figure of something falling appeared in the night sky as he made his landing; he then started rushing towards where the Kazekage was falling but two rooftops later a white bird flew right next to Gaara and grabbed his falling body midair. Naruto mentally face palmed once again as he realized that the Akatsuki needed to extract Gaara's Tailed Beast, forcing him to capture the Kazekage alive. If he had stayed high above the twin walls, he could have gotten the enemy with a surprise attack.

The boy made his way back to the wall but it was already too late, the bird had already flew away. At least that was what he thought…until he got to the top of the gigantic building in time to see the white bird landing alongside another figure. Naruto watched the scene unfold with a bit of hope in his eyes. The hope was soon taken over by anger as he clenched his hand into a fist and his eyes pupils turned into slits but remained blue. He then jumped off the wall. There was no way he would forgive the Akatsuki for taking his friend!

**Author's Note: No reviews...? This really gets me in a bad mood, seriously, I am in 7 people`s favorite stories list and no one gets the trouble of commenting something?! Well, continuing on this chapter, if you didn't realize, reveals that i plan on following the Shippuden storyline but with a twist, such as Naruto being present in Gaara`s battle with Deidara. I don't want to go for the same fights, so ill try something else with other characters VS other characters. Ok, then im done with the Author`s note. Please leave a review.**


	5. The Two Akatsuki

The rising sun illuminated their way as Deidara and Sasori walked through the desert. The sun had just began to raise as they left the village hidden in the sand behind, in fact, if they looked back in that moment they would be barely able to see the twin walls that guarded the village. A clay bird flew above them, carrying with his tail the fifth Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand, who unfortunately for them was also the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi, the one Tailed Beast. They walked for hours without even changing their speed. That was until Sasori, the short one, stopped walking.

Sasori? What's the matter?" Asked Deidara, the tall one with blond hair.

"I wouldn't have thought it possible…" His partner answered. "We're being followed." That couldn't be right…who in his right mind would follow two members of one of the world's most dangerous organizations?

Deidara would have thought Sasori was going mad if it wasn't for the voice that spoke behind them." Hold it right there…" The voice said

Deidara turned to see a young man, about his age, maybe a bit younger, wearing weird black clothes and a Sand Village headband/hat thing. He carried three scrolls on his back and in Deidara's opinion he looked like a pissed off cat. "Hand over Gaara, now!" Threatened the young man looking at the Kazekage that hanged in the tail of Deidara's bird. The blond Akatsuki only grunted in response as his partner turned to face their pursuer.

"Deidara…" Said Sasori. "You go on ahead." He then jumped in the air and landed between the Sand Shinobi and him.

The Shinobi smirked and pulled the three scrolls out of his back, opening them in the ground. "Are you two ready…for a puppet show?" He asked. Deidara couldn't help but smile, he imagined how the puppeteer kid would react once he knew who he was going up against. He then shouted the name of his three puppets while making the tiger hand seal. Their names apparently were: Crow, Black Ant and Salamander. Once his three weird looking puppets came out of the scroll and took their fighting positions the Shinobi gave them a second warning. "I'll say it again…hand over Gaara, now!" Deidara smirked, that guy's threats were going to prove themselves easier said than done.

"I'm going on ahead, than…enjoy the show." The younger Akatsuki said as he jumped atop his bird, not having to keep up with his partner anymore and allowing himself to move faster.

As he started to fly away a voice called for him. "THINK AGAIN!" Said the young puppet master, he moved his fingers in a weird way and suddenly one of the guy`s puppets, Crow he believed, flew towards him.

Deidara turned in time to see Sasori's metal tail blade grabbing the puppet midair and the surprised look on the face of the younger shinobi. "What…?" Was all the youngest of the two puppeters managed to say.

"I don't like to wait….or to keep others waiting…" Said Sasori, letting his straw hat fall on the ground. "So I'll make this short….and sweet." That was the last thing Deidara heard or saw, before he flew away in his clay bird.

_Fifteen minutes later, in another place of the same desert_

Deidara was flying on his C1 bird without a care in the world, the sun was still rising, the Kazekage was quiet and soon Sasori would come back, having killed that annoying puppeteer. That's when he heard the voice. "Razor Wind!" Someone to his right shouted.

"What the-" Deidara managed to say before his clay bird was cut in half by a slash shaped beam coming from an unknown enemy. He used the mouth in his hand to bite off a piece of clay out of the C1's head before a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it hit the right wing of the clay bird. "Shit…" He managed to say before he jumped out of the bird's back. An explosion momentarily blinded Deidara and threw him back against the sand, when he opened his eyes again he saw a teen, younger than him, blond hair, angry blue eyes and whisker like marks on both his cheeks. Near him a clone stood, carrying the Kazekage's unconscious body in his arms.

"You." The boy said. "Akatsuki…" Deidara didn't know who the guy was, but he didn't like the situation, he was missing an arm and all the explosive clay he had left was being chewed by his right hand at the moment.

Naruto dashed at his enemy, in his right hand a wind blade formed itself. He tried an upward slash at the blond man but said blonde managed to dodge the blade and pass behind his arm, however Naruto landed with his elbow in the man's face before turning with a kick in his back, throwing him some meters away. The young Uzumaki deactivated the blade of wind in his right hand and started walking towards the Akatsuki called Deidara to finish him off. That was until a voice spoke behind him. "Not so fast…" He looked behind to see a metal tail/blade go through his clone and grab the Kazekage that was in his arms. "Uzumaki Naruto…" A chill went down Naruto's spine as the man said his name…so they knew…

Sasori jumped high in the air and landed between Deidara and Naruto. "Deidara, you already captured the seven tails and the one tail, leave this one to me." Said the Puppeteer.

"What are you talking about, Sasori?" Asked Deidara, he was confused, what was his partner referring to?

Sasori only sighed in response. "Uzumaki Naruto, don't you remember?" Deidara stopped for one second to think before a memory flashed back on his mind.

_Two years and Five months earlier, Akatsuki Hideout…_

The eight Akatsuki were reunited, all of them using the Art of Astral Projection Jutsu. "Why did you summon us, leader? Kisame Hoshikage asked.

"Zetsu." The leader called out, apparently the black and white member understood the message.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox, was exiled from his own village." Zetsu informed them

"If that is so what will our next move be?" Kakuzu asked.

Silence reigned in the room for some seconds until Itachi spoke up. "We should wait." All the attention was turned into the Uchiha as he looked at the leader as if asking permission to continue talking. The leader nodded. "We have no jutsu powerful enough to get seal him. Besides, the nine tailed Jinchuuriki, despite being a mere child, is a very powerful foe, powerful enough to stop even the fully transformed One Tail." He said, referencing to something Zetsu had reported not too long ago.

"Itachi San is right." Kisame said. "We don't have a jutsu powerful enough to get the boy and if his Tailed Beast feels like it is cornered it might go as far as to cooperate with the boy by lending him its power." Suddenly there was discussion on the room all the Akatsuki had its opinion on the matter, some agreed, like Sasori and Konan, some disagreed, like Kakuzu and Deidara.

The Leader gestured for silence, having power over the other members they naturally silenced after his gesture. "Indeed…and even though the Demon Fox might be dealt with we still do not have the sealing jutsu ready." The leader had given his opinion. And as every Akatsuki member knew: the leader's decision was the Akatsuki's decision.

Deidara however didn't like the decision. "Leader, we could easily-"

"Like it or not the decision has been made, Deidara." The leader said, interrupting Deidara. "We must have caution to proceed. You are all dismissed."

Deidara gave a silent grunt at the leader's decision before all the eight Akatsuki disappeared, having all dismissed their jutsu.

_Back to the present…_

"I remember…" Deidara said, smiling. "So he is the Nine Tailed Demon Fox's Jinchuuriki, huh? But how did you know that, Sasori?"

Naruto felt nervous at the awareness those men had of his identity, what else did they know? Sasori Grunted before answering his partner's question. "The symbol on his back and near his shoulder, in his arm. Do you see it?" Asked Sasori, looking at the Jinchuuriki's cloak.

"Yeah, what about it?" Asked Deidara.

"Those are the symbols of the Uzumaki clan; once I saw it I remembered about the name, his whisker marks are also suspicious." Sasori pointed out.

Naruto was surprised on the man's knowledge on the Uzumaki. "You know about my clan?!" He asked, sounding more surprised and curious than he probably should.

Sasori noticed that he had touched a subject of interest. "Yes, I do…in fact: I am an Uzumaki myself." That surprised not only Naruto, but Deidara too.

"Sasori?! What the hell!? Is that guy your relative or something? Cause that's weird, hm!" Deidara shouted.

"You are a relative of mine?! You?! A weird imp bald man thing?! You look nothing alike me!" Naruto shouted.

Sasori didn't look very happy at Naruto's comment. "Yes, me and the Jinchuuriki are related, very distant cousins most likely, but yes we are. Also, this is just a puppet." Sasori answered. Naruto was surprised in more ways than he could imagine. "And that's not all…" The puppeteer said in a sadistic tone. "I can also give you information about Sasuke Uchiha."

That got Naruto. Sasori knew how the boy had lost to his best friend two and a half years ago in the battle of the Valley of the End. He didn't know what effect Sasuke would have on the present Naruto, all he knew was that it would have some kind of effect in the boy, be it good or bad.

"Sasuke…" Naruto said. For some seconds silence was all that could be heard in the morning desert. That was until Naruto moved his hand towards the scabbard of his sword and with his thumb he pressed the rain guard, making a small part of the blade appear. "Where is he…?" Asked Naruto in a grim tone. "Tell me: what do you know about my clan and what do you know about Sasuke?"

Sasori let out a small laugh at the youngster's attitude and looked at Deidara. "Deidara, go." He said, dropping the Kazekage in the ground next to his partner. "Sasori…are you sure? This guy looks strong." Sasori only nodded. "I'll be fine, just go on without me. I will follow when I'm done."

Deidara nodded and used the remaining clay in his hand to make a C1 bird, this time however he grabbed the Jinchuuriki by the bird's beak instead of tail. "Good luck, my man. Hmm." Those were Deidara's last words before flying off with the bird.

Naruto looked at the Akatsuki flying away with his friend and had to focus to resist the urge to follow him. Naruto mentally asked forgiveness for Gaara, but he had to know….his clan…Sasuke…

"Let us make a deal. If you win I will tell you of your clan and your friend." Sasori said, arming his tail blade at Naruto. The boy only nodded in response. "Try to make this interesting. At least more interesting than that last puppeteer who defied me."

"Kankuro…" The Jinchuuriki whispered to himself. He would make that man pay for what he did with Gaara's brother. Naruto placed his hand on the Yamato's hilt, Sasori prepared his tail blade. The battle was about to start.

**Author's Note: I just reached my 1000th view, so yeah: Happy mood. Also: finally some reviews! One in special made me a tad…well, interested…but I'll talk about that later. First off in this Fanfiction Sasori is an Uzumaki. It's an old theory I had. To resume it: Granny Chiyo knows Fuinjutsu (Uzumaki specialty), Sasori has a strong life force (He transferred his body into a puppet), he has red hair etc…if you don't like it think about it that way: he was a better candidate then Karin, right? Author's note is done, please leave a review…and while on the topic of reviews…**


	6. A Battle of Uzumaki

(OST: Emergency of Tallents)

Naruto and Sasori's puppet looked at each other's eyes with killing intent as the wind blew in the desert. Naruto rested his hand on the Yamato's hilt while the puppet's tail kept going from one side to the other playfully. The boy smirked and suddenly he was clashing blades with the puppet. "You're too slow…" Sasori said as his puppet's right hand grabbed the piece of cloth on its face and pulled it to reveal a mouth full of senbon needles ready to be launched at Naruto's face. The younger Uzumaki was forced to jump back to dodge them.

That puppet was fast and shoot senbon needles out of his mouth, but that was all he knew. Naruto hadn't got much information in Sasori's jutsu or his puppet's fighting style; he had to know about it to counter it…and he had the right jutsu to do so. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He shouted while making the handseal. Suddenly various Naruto clones appeared in various poofs around the morning desert, the real boy managed to jump back before giving one simple command to his clones. "Attack!"

The clones obeyed the original Naruto and dashed towards Sasori with killing intent. "How interesting…" Was the puppeteer's only comment. Naruto stayed back and watched as every clone that was unlucky enough to get in a range of five meters from Sasori was mercilessly stabbed by the tail blade. He even saw five clones advancing against the enemy, each one with a Rasengan Barrage in hand; they were all eliminated by senbon shot out of the puppet's mouth.

"Enough of these games…" Said Sasori as he lifted the puppet's left arm and pointed towards a clone, just then Naruto noticed that there was no left arm, there was a projectile launcher. A big one. Sasori shoot the projectile launcher that hit a nearby clone, it then shot dozens of smaller capsules from all sides, the small capsules then opened to reveal senbon, three senbon in each capsule more specifically. The Needles hit all his clones, making them disappear with various poofs of smoke.

How was that possible?! Naruto had sent all his clones to try and gather information and to damage the guy…but all he managed was to gather a bit of information and to see all his clones annihilated before his eyes. Just then he realized that Sasori was unlike any other opponent he had ever faced…he would have to be careful. If only he had the opportunity to use "that" jutsu…

It was just then that he looked at Sasori and realized that the puppet was making no movement. He was curious at first but then he heard a sound coming from under him. "Oh crap…"

Naruto jumped one second before the tail blade came out of the ground in an attempt to impale the Jinchuuriki, but even though he was already high in the sky the tail blade continued going after him. Gravity would eventually push him down again but the blade would continue going and eventually hit him, so he had to act fast. Naruto made a shadow clone that grabbed him by his arm before throwing him against the puppet's body.

The plan would have gone well if that tail wasn't so damn fast! Naruto landed and was about to strike Sasori when the puppet's tail suddenly came out of nowhere and blocked his blade . "You will have to do better than that if you want to get through this tail…after all: Hiruko is my second strongest puppet…" Second ?! He gulped. Naruto DID NOT want to meet number one!

The Jinchuuriki felt he was being pushed back by Hiruko's tail and was forced to focus his chakra on his feet to keep him from being launched away. However his efforts were in vain as Sasori simply increased the force of the push and threw him skyward. Naruto managed to spin midair and even make a shadow clone that threw him down to the ground moments before the tail reached him, it stabbed the clone instead as Naruto continued falling down. Then the unexpected happened.

The tail's blades turned at his direction without the tail itself moving, it was then brought down against Naruto's chest. The boy managed to spin and hold back the tails with the Yamato as Hiruko threw him down on the ground. Naruto knew that if it wasn't for the soft sand he would have broken some bones there. He kept the tail away but the blades were very near him. So near he could even smell them...a bitter smell that burned his nostrils. Poison. The poison enhanced tail forced him down as he held the sword that was the only thing between him and those poisoned blades. "Its no use." Said Sasori. "You wont be able to hold this for much longer." He was right. Naruto could feel his arms losing strength by the second. He started to focus as his blade was surrounded by a white aura. "What...?" Was all that Sasori managed to say.

"Razor...WIND!" Naruto's blade sliced Hiruko's tail in half much for Sasori's surprise, a white wave shaped beam of energy comes out of the sword and flies skyward never to be seen again. Naruto then got upand looked at his enemy, pointing the sword at him. "Now...tell me about my clan!"

In response to Naruto's request Hiruko gives him a thumbs up, confusing the boy. The thumb then opens itself as a capsule and out of it comes a red liquid that flows down Hiruko's puppet hand. "Well, well... You're good!" Sasori said. "Never has someone forced me to go that far with Hiruko...you see, the liquid flowing down the thumb of this puppet this exact moment is Hiruko's blood."

"Blood...?" Naruto was confused. "But...he's a puppet" His question caused his opponent to laugh, which confused him even more.

"Yes...they are puppets." Sasori told him. "But not normal puppets...you see, this is a human puppet...a puppet made out od a real corpse." He said, much to Naruto's surprise and disgust. "Its much more simple then building a puppet from the start and you also get the jutsu the puppet used in life at your disposal, the only problem is cleaning away the blood from the corpse...its just so troublesome..."

"You...sick...bastard..." Was all Naruto managed to say as he felt like vomiting after hearing the man talking about cleaning the blood from corpses to make them into puppets. He wondered how the guy had the stomach to do something like that...

Just then Sasori's puppet made a one handed handseal. "Summoning Jutsu!" He shouted. Suddenly out of the ground two large torpedo shaped containers: one on his right, one on his left.

"What the hell...?" Naruto pondered after the boxes' sudden appearance. What was Sasori planning? He would know soon enough...

"It was nice fighting you..." Sasori told him. "But this is it." Hiruko then made one final handseal and the containers opened revealing various shelves with smaller projectiles launchers in them. Suddenly a storm of Kunai came out of the containers in Naruto's direction.

"What the- Damnit!" Naruto makes three handseals before clapping his hands. "Wind Style: Air Armor!" Right before the Kunai hits Naruto, a sphere made of wind surrounds him and deflects the kunai that come in contact with the armor.

"Quite persistent..." Sasori commented as he made another handseal, the box was reloaded with another set of Kunai. "But its over." The box launched the reloaded kunai at Naruto, the boy then noticed that all kunai had paper bombs attached to it. This couldnt be good..."Puppet Jutsu: Multiple Blade Box!" Sasori shouted as he jumped back in his puppet

"Fuck..."Naruto dismissed his armor and tried to run away, but before he could do much Hiruko made one final tiger handseal and the Kunai exploded in the morning desert.

(OST End)_  
_

_Meanwhile, somewhere else in the desert..._

Kankuro was laying on his back while moaning in pain. His blood was on fire, his head spun, his vision was blurry... that poison... he still couldn't believe it. Sasori of the red sand. He was given this name in the third ninja war when he was still a boy in the battlefield. The greatest Puppeteer the sand ever knew, Sasori was given the moniker because of how the sand grew red with the spilled blood of his enemies whenever he fought someone. He had mysteriously disappeared 20 years ago, before Kankuro was born, never to be heard off again...until that day.

"Kankuro!" Said a familiar voice, interrupting his line of thoughts.

"Baki...?" Kankuro replied weakly.

The puppeteer opened his eyes to see his old Sensei holding him with a worried look in his face along with three other Shinobi behind him. "What the hell happened here? Was the Akatsuki who captured Gaara the one who did this to you?!" Asked the Shinobi.

Before Kankuro could reply another Shinobi spoke for him. "I dont think so, Baki San. The Akatsuki that attacked Lord Kazekage used explosive clay as a weapon, however Kankuro San seems to be poisoned."

"Is that it Kankuro?" Baki asked as if looking for a confirmation.

All that the puppeteer could do was to nod in confirmation. He wanted to tell them about Sasori and the poison and the tail, and the senbon...but he was just way too weak to do anything of the sort. Kankuro could feel his consciousnesses slipping away from him, his eyes closing slowly, he tried to fight it but he knew he couldnt hold much longer.

"Should we follow the Akatsuki's trail?" A shinobi asked.

"No. We need to take Kankuro back so we can treat him properly... besides, a sandstorm is coming from the west...its dangerous to pursue them." Those were the last words Kankuro heard before everything went black and he fainted.

_Meanwhile, somewhere else in the same desert..._

Sasori was walking with Hiruko through the crater he had made, looking for the semi dead body of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. This had been one of the rare opportunities he had of using his special jutsu. He wondered whhat would be Deidara's reaction if he saw it... being a partner of the blonde bomber was no easy task...but it was certainly entertaining, Sasori had to admit that much.

Him and his partner had very different views on art. Deidara saw art as something momentarily, that could not be imprisoned by time and that left a mark on the earth before dying out. Even tough they had already argued it day out and night out Deidara maintained his belief that art was something transient that departed quickly.

Sasori didn't get it.

His view of art was far more complex than his partner's. He believed that the true and fine art was everlasting and remained far into the future. Untouched by time for the next generations to see and feel.

That is why if Deidara saw Sasori submitting to his own style of art, he would come out on top, something Sasori couldn't bear to see. That was why he never used his jutsu around his partner, this was one of the rare events Deidara and Sasori were away from each otthus giving Sasori the liberty to use explosives. He didnt honestly like to explode things, for him it was nothing more than a loud noise and then destruction. But one thing he had to admit: It was sure as hell effective.

At least that was what he thought until he heard a small noise under him and saw Uzumaki Naruto coming out of the ground and landing a punch in his puppet's chin before kicking him away to the other side of the crater.

"So you`re still alive and well..." Sasori said with disgust.

"And you're still hiding inside that butt-ugly puppet of yours...some things never change, do they?" Naruto commented with a chuckle.

Sasori was so mad at the boy for calling his art butt ugly he almost didn't realize he had said that Sasori was hiding inside the puppet. "When did you realize...?" The puppeteer asked with a dangerous tone of voice.

"Well, its not like it was a secret. I can feel your chakra inside it after all..." Naruto said, casually.

That surprised Sasori. Not the fact that the boy could feel his chakra, it was a basic skill. What really surprised him Naruto's attitude. Before the explosion he was serious, concerned and completely focused on his task. After the explosion he had become cocky, arrogant and comfortable with the situation at hand. Something happened...he wasn't quite sure of what...but something had definitively happened. Something that could change the course of the fight ...

That was when he realized.

"Damnit!" Sasori shouted as his puppet threw the Akatsuki cloak aside, revealing an enormous mask at Hiruko's back. Naruto realized what had happened and his cocky smile became a battle expression, he performed a handseal but before he could activate the two paper bombs he had planted in the puppet's legs when he came out of the ground the mask on the puppet's back opened and a shadow came out.

Naruto couldn't see it very well because of the explosion that followed the activation of the paper bombs and the dust raised by it. "You are a lot better than i expected..." Said a voice a very different from Sasori's voice. "You're stronger than i imagined..." Said the voice.

"Who are you...?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, im sorry...being inside Hiruko makes my voice much deeper..." Said the voice again, as its owner came out of the dust."

He was a lot different than what Naruto imagined from a guy that stayed the whole day inside a puppet. He was as old as his Akatsuki partner, 19 maybe 20. He had short, red hair and brown eyes, being almost as tall as Naruto and wearing an Akatsuki robe. He had also a strangely calm look in his face for someone who had lost his second favorite puppet. "Let me reintroduce myself..." Said the young, red haired man. "My name is Sasori of the Red Sand."

Naruto smilled after seeing his enemy. "So you really are an Uzumaki, aren't you...?"He pointed his katana at the man. "Good! That way i am sure you can tell me what i want to know. So start talking!"

Sasori chuckled at Naruto's demands. "Tell you? So you think you defeated me, already?" He said as he showed Naruto a scroll. That couldn't be good...

"Tell me, Naruto...have you ever heard of the Third Kazekage" The Puppeteer asked.

(OST: Avenger)

Naruto was confused by the random question. He had heard of the third Kazekage, not much though...he had seen a picture of him oncein a newspaper though. A dark and messy haired man with yellow eyes and a serious expression. He however wouldn't give Sasori the satisfaction of having him answer.

"No?" Sasori asked after seeing that Naruto wouldn't answer his question. "Well, that's a pity. The Third Kazekage is the strongest shinobi the Hidden Village of the Sand has ever meet. He was blessed with the Magnet Release. A Kekkei Genkai only one out of ten thousand are able to use. After observing the previous Ichibi Jinchuuriki he came up with a weapon called the Iron Sand, which allowed him to do what the present Kazekage can. To control the sand... an amazing man indeed! He was even compared to the Leaf's Fourth Hokage!" At the mention of the man he saw that Naruto closed his hand into a fist and bit his lower lip with such rage a small drop of blood came out of it and hit the ground. Sasori took notice of that but didn't say anything. "Unfortunately this incredible man disappeared 15 years ago leaving behind a great mistery in the history of the sand...well, not that great..."

That last line caught Naruto's attention. "What do you mean?" Instead of answering the question Sasori smiled and opened his scroll before summoning his puppet. As the smoke cleared Naruto saw the puppet's face and his eyes opened wide. "Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me..."

The puppet had dark, messy hair and yellow eyes. He was the size of a normal adult and wore a black cloak with a ruffled collar. Naruto watched as ten chakra threads came out of Sasori's fingers and made contact with the puppet. "Let me present you my favorite puppet." Sasori said with a small smile and his eyes half closed. "Naruto Uzumaki...say hello to the Third Kazekage."

(OST End)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well...Fighting chapters are difficult to write. If you didn't notice i made Naruto refer to a "That" Jutsu. I will be explaining that in another fight. This will be a pretty big battle, Sasori VS Naruto... originally i would make Naruto fight Deidara but I'm glad it ended up being Sasori, it was something different. So what did you think of the chapter? Was it good? Please leave a review and i will answer it. Please, really.**


	7. The Iron Sand

Baki shot through the twin gates of the sand as he shouted to the citizens to step back. Seconds later the three other shinobi ran through the gate after him, carrying Kankuro in a hospital litter. "Make way! Make way, people!" He shouted as the three medical nin ran towards the sand hospital.

"Damn it…" Baki said to himself as he watched the three Shinobi run with the wounded Kankuro in a litter.

"Baki-san!" Exclaimed another shinobi running towards him. "Baki-san! What happened here?"

"Kankuro…" Baki began as he tried to focus on the shinobi instead of on the small group of men running with Kankuro. "He disobeyed my orders. He engaged with one of the Akatsuki and got wounded in battle. But that's unimportant!" He said, turning towards the man. "Have you sent a hawk messenger addressed to the leaf, Ryuzin?"

"Well…" Ryuzin said as he attempted to find the right words. "Yes. I sent Takatsu with a message explaining the events that happened earlier. He should be arriving by now…"

"Takatsu…? Why didn't you send Takamaru instead?" Baki asked.

"Takamaru is still on the mission in the Land of Fire…" Ryuzin explained. "He didn't arrive yet…."

Baki sighed at the news. Two days ago the members of a group of bandIt's infamous for stealing of travelers were found semi dead in the south of the land of fire, near It's borders with the Land of Rivers. One of the bandIt's, the leader, had been taken into custody and interrogated. He had told It's interrogator that him and his group had tried to steal from a blond boy with whisker like marks on his face only to be beaten down to a pulp.

As soon as the story reached the Kazekage, he had sent the fastest hawk to the small town where the bandit was interrogated aiming to get more information on the mysterious blonde. Apparently before the hawk could return the whole incident with the Akatsuki happened. Well, because of the situation they had to settle for second fastest…

Anyhow, the message had already been sent to Konoha…all they could do now was wait.

_Meanwhile, in the desert of the sand…_

Naruto kept looking at the Third Kazekage's puppet that was floating next to Sasori as he stood looking down at him in front of the crater he had previously created with his other puppet, Hiruko. As he stared at the puppet's yellow eyes he started wondering why shit like this tended to happen with him so often.

Whenever he picked a fight or even better, whenever a fight picked him…his opponent had to have some special power such as the ability to turn himself into a monster because of some stupid cursed seal or to summon a gigantic Tanuki made of sand or simply to have control of a dead Kage with a Kekkei Genkai…

"Naruto Uzumaki…" Sasori said with a sadistic smile on his face. "So far you have proven to be a decent opponent, let us see if you really are worthy of such compliment…" With that, he made a hand seal and the Third Kazekage pointed his left arm towards Naruto as the boy wondered what was to come next. The arm then opened several compartments, all of them with the very same seal, a generic summoning seal.

"What the-" Before Naruto could finish his sentence various arms came out of the compartments, one arm after another in an insane jutsu. "FUCK!" Naruto shouted as he jumped away right before the army of arms hit the ground next to him. He then saw various small handless arms point towards him, those which Naruto soon discovered to also serve as launchers as three kunai were came out of the tubes and towards him. Naruto dodged the first kunai, grabbed the second and used it to swat off the third before jumping high in the air.

While Midair, Naruto touched his arm and applied chakra into it, revealing a basic sealing jutsu in his arm with three circles in line only five centimeters apart one from another. He touched the third circle and with a small poof a paper bomb appeared in his hand. Naruto started wrapping the Paper bomb around his kunai as more tubes rose in the various arms, throwing more and more projectiles that Naruto was forced to spin midair to dodge them before launching his own kunai followed by five hand seals. "Shadow Clone Shuriken Jutsu!" He shouted as the paper bomb powered projectiles multiplied It'self by ten!

Naruto landed on the arms seconds after the kunai hit their respective targets. He made a hand seal while smirking and the army of arms was suddenly covered by explosions. Sasori was surprised by his younger clansman's choice of move but acted fast, jumping back, detaching the Third Kazekage's department of the arm used for his Thousand Hands Manipulation Force. "The fool...did he kill himself...?"

Sasori's question was soon answered as Naruto came out of the explosion left by the smoke wielding his blade. He dashed past the Third Kazekage and stood in front of Sasori readying his Katana for the killing strike.

Sasori had to act fast...he wasn't going down...not alone... the older Uzumaki made quick movement of his fingers as the third Kazekage turned to face Naruto as a spinning buzzsaw coated in deadly poison came out of his missing left arm. Just then Naruto stabbed Sasori in his stomach and the Third Kazekage slashed at Naruto's back with his spinning, deadly blade.

Naruto felt on top of Sasori, who kicked the blonde away before making quick work of getting back up and reattaching his chakra strings to the third Kazekage. "This will be long and painful..." Sasori said with a smile. "But the poison will eventually kill you, so don't worry." Naruto then began to laugh much to Sasori's confusion. "Why...are you laughing...?"

"Because..." Naruto said as he got up. "...this!" He continued as he gave his back to Sasori and pointed with his thumb to the back of his cloak. Sasori couldn't believe it. It was completely unscratched.

"But...how?" Sasori didn't understand, Naruto Uzumaki should be in the ground, suffering in pain, but here he was, standing up to him!

"This cloak is infused with a sealing jutsu, one developed by our very own clan. It uses my chakra to add weight and endurance to the cloak. In other words; if I add a lot of chakra to it, It's weight and endurance will increase." The boy explained.

"I see..." Sasori commented with an eyebrow raised, expressing interest. "Quite the use of Fuuinjutsu..."

"Still...how did you survive the stab?" Naruto asked looking at the hole in the Akatsuki cloak.

"That is none of your business!" Sasori shouted, suddenly getting angry and doing a hand seal.

The Third Kazekage dashed at Naruto as various retractable blades in the formation of a claw appeared on his right arm. The Third started to attack Naruto with his claw and his buzzsaw with such speed that it forced the boy to use the full extent of his five senses. Naruto slowly tried to retreat, he knew that if one of those blades made contact with him it was all over...

Finally, the puppet lifted his arms up and was about to bring his blades down when Naruto saw an opportunity, he back flipped and landed some meters from the puppet before it was able to slash him.

Naruto then prepared his blade pointing to the Third Kazekage before it was enveloped in a white glow. As soon as the glow had enveloped the blade completely Naruto jumped high in the air and raised the blade above his head. "RAZOR..." He shouted before landing his blade on top of the Third Kazekage, the puppet tried to block the attack with It's own blades but had both his arms destroyed as a white explosion caused by the sword blew them up. "...WIND!"

Sasori called the armless puppet back towards him as the sand raised by Naruto's Razor Wind rose high into the air. Out of the sand Naruto walked out with a smirk in his face and his sword laid on his shoulders. "How dare you..." Sasori said, shaking with anger. "How dare you, destroying my art?!"

The Third Kazekage's mouth then opened and out of it black and weird looking senbon needles flew towards Naruto, who spun his Yamato at the back of his hand continuously, every time the needles touched the sword they disintegrated, leaving behind a dark sand, the senbon continued being launched at Naruto and Naruto continued using his blade to turn the needles into black sand. This went on until Sasori smiled and shouted. "HAH!" While making a one handed tiger seal.

The sand that had come from the senbon then started to envelop him, crawling up his legs, much like Gaara's sand burial. At first he wondered what in the world was happening but then he remembered Sasori telling him about the Third Kazekage, who controlled the Iron Sand.

The same Iron Sand that was now crawling over his legs.

Damn it, he was so stupid...

"So, do you like my iron sand?" Sasori asked him with an evil smirk. "I can't control it nearly as well as the Third originally did of course, however it is enough to make you regret ever trying to rescue the One Tail..."

Naruto looked at Sasori with Killer Intent present in his eyes before making three hand seals, it was a difficult task to accomplish with all the sand around him but he somehow managed to do so. "Air Armor!" Naruto shouted as he clapped his hands together. Suddenly, a sphere of wind was around him, pushing the Iron Sand back.

"Very well done, Naruto Uzumaki..." Sasori said, calling the sand Naruto had repealed back as more and more Iron Sand continued coming out of the Third's mouth. "But let's see if you can escape this!" With another hand seal the sand started taking form of a triangular, spear-shaped object with a pointy edge. The spear dashed towards Naruto at amazing speed before hitting his air armor full force, as the spear slowly started piercing through it, Naruto realized his only shield would soon break and then he would be at the mercy of the iron sand spear.

Naruto tried to focus his chakra so the armor wouldn't break, but he knew it was useless. There was only one thing he could do..."Release!" He shouted extending both his arms. An explosion of air destroyed the spear, throwing the Iron Sand back at Sasori and raising normal sand high in the air.

"What is he planning...?" As Sasori questioned his adversary's move a Fuma Shuriken came flying out of the sand and towards him, Sasori however, only made a quick movement with his fingers as the overly sized shuriken trajectory was altered so it passes right over the Uzumaki's shoulder. "The fool...did he forget that the Third Kazekage has magnet abilities...?"

As soon as the sand clears we see Naruto with a smile on his face looking directly at Sasori.

That smile...Sasori was a fast learner, he knew that smile, the same smile Naruto had right before destroying his previous puppet...that kid...he had something up his sleeve...and whatever t was, there was no way in hell the puppeteer would let him use it.

"I don't know what you're planning..." Sasori said as he moved his hands and fingers in drastic movements. "But I will kill you before something else happens..."Sasori made three hand seals at a drastic speed. The puppeteer then raised their hands skyward, in response the iron sand flew above Naruto before taking the form of a gigantic cube. "I will crush you..." Sasori said as he watched Naruto's smile slowly disappearing.

"DIE!" Sasori shouted as made a one handed tiger hand seal. The giant cube then began to fall towards Naruto.

"Damn it!" Naruto said as he made a shadow clone hand seal, two clones appeared in front of him and they entered their positions: two clones stood in front of the original Naruto, the first one in line grabbed the second's feet and the third, which was the original, grabbed the second's feet. The first clone kicked the air and Naruto flew high in the air along with the second one, he stood in the second's back and jumped away, nearly escaping the iron sand cube.

"Gotcha!" Sasori shouted as he made a hand seal, the Third Kazekage then dashed towards Naruto. The puppet's cloak suddenly slipped down, revealing that the left side of his chest had a small compartment; the compartment opened revealing a small apparatus that was emitting some kind of magnetic wave.

In response to the apparatus, iron sand came flying towards the Kazekage puppet forming wing like structures in the Kazekage's back and re-forming the spear that Naruto had previously destroyed.

Naruto smiled. Who would have known...? His plan had worked.

As the Kazekage's spear was about to hit Naruto, the fuma shuriken he had previously thrown exploded with a poof, revealing a shadow clone, the clone formed a wind blade in the palm of his hand and cut the strings Sasori was using to control the puppet. The red hair looked, surprised, as his younger clansman smirked towards him before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

The third Kazekage's wings and spear suddenly crumbled into sand once again and despite not being controlled by chakra strings anymore, the Third continued flying towards Naruto. The speed it had achieved while being controlled by chakra strings had thrown him towards the blonde Uzumaki.

Naruto made a shadow clone next to him who grabbed the boy by his arm and threw him towards the Third Kazekage. Naruto stretched his right hand in front of himself and started spinning chakra in several directions as a small blue ball of deadly chakra spun in his palm. "Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as the sphere made contact with the Kazekage's face, destroying the puppet.

Naruto spun midair before landing about fifteen meters away from Sasori. "So, what will you throw at me next?" Naruto asked to the puppeteer. "Or will you finally give up?"

Sasori watched the pieces of his broken masterpiece fall onto the ground with an expressionless face and half closed eyes. "Well, well...you forced me to this point..." Sasori then began to open his Akatsuki cloak. "I haven't used myself since i joined the Akatsuki..."

What was he talking about? Using himself? Naruto didn't get it...well, not at first of course...but as soon as Sasori took out his cloak his eyes widened and he opened his mouth trying to speak but the words got stuck inside him.

Instead of a normal body, Sasori had something different... his skin was wood, his stomach was a metal rope, there was a pair of spinning claws attached to his lower back, in his upper back there was a holder with four scrolls, he had no heart, only a compartment in his chest that looked like a chunk of meat.

He was a puppet.

"What...what the hell?!" Naruto said as he started sweating...was he nervous?

Sasori chuckled at the younger boy's reaction to his true form. "Why are you nervous...?" He said as he took one of the scrolls from his back and opened it above his head. "I gave you no reason to be nervous yet..." As the human puppet made a hand seal, a small compartment in his chest opened and out of the scroll one hundred shadows came out, one after another. As each shadow flew skyward, a poof came out of the scroll and a light blue chakra string shot out of Sasori's compartment to attach It'self to it.

"Behold..." Sasori said. "MY ARMY OF ONE HUNDRED PUPPETS!" As he completed his sentence by shouting at Naruto, one hundred puppets stood, flying behind him, all wearing red cloaks with ruffled collars. "Do you really think you can still win?" Sasori asked with a smirk.

Naruto didn't answer the question, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again, revealing red iris with slIt's for pupils.

An explosion of red chakra happened then, a red wind that spun around Naruto while he undergone some physical changes. His whisker marks became thicker, his hair was spiked up, his nails looked like claws and his teeth became more canine looking.

"So this is the power of the nine tails..." Sasori said, amused. "Interesting..."

Naruto smirked as he unseated his sword and pointed it towards Sasori. "So..." He said. "Are you ready to get your ass kicked?"

**Author****'**s Note**:** I am now officially drifting off the cannon storyline. Why? Because i felt traped by it and because i already developed the first scratches of this story**'**s ending. Its not ending very soon though, it will go on for a while. This is only the first arc...well, second if you consider the three first chapters that form the prologue...


	8. A New Mission

Both Uzumaki's faced each other demonstrating their full power, Naruto using his Tailed Beast's chakra and Sasori using the full potential of his puppet skills to control one hundred puppets simultaneously.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The Jinchuuriki shouted making a hand seal as 100 clones appeared next to him.

"Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!" The puppeteer answered as all the chakra threads that led to the puppets became darker in color before various poofs of smoke appeared next to the puppets. Once they were gone all puppets were holding their own weapons.

"ATTACK!" Both Uzumaki's ordered simultaneously by shouting before the two armies dashed at each other.

_Meanwhile, in Konoha..._

Tsunade was calmly drinking tea in her office when she received the news. She woke up thinking it would be a normal day, that the worst thing that would happen was the paperwork, mortal enemy to all Kage...

Needless to say she was wrong.

The Sannin realized this once a female Jonin opened her Office's door with a dire expression. "Lady Hokage! It's a message from the sand! It's urgent!" The Woman said. Tsunade told her to calm down and explain it properly. The Jonin manage to stutter a few words, just enough for Tsunade to understand the situation.

"Thank you." Tsunade said to the woman. "You are dismissed." The Jonin nodded before disappearing in a body flicker. Tsunade then called Shizune with an urgent tone clear in her voice.

"Lady Tsunade! Is something wrong?" Asked the raven haired woman.

"I need you to call Team Guy and Team Kurenai right now!" The Hokage said with the same tone she previously used.

"But, milady…" Shizune said trying to explain. "Shino is training with his father out of the village and Kurenai is in a mission of her own!"

Tsunade thought for a moment. Kurenai was indeed on another mission…and so was Shino…she'd have to find replacements for the both. Team Asuma wouldn't quite work out as Shikamaru was preparing for the Chunnin exams and Asuma was out on a mission as well. Choji wouldn't fit in the team…Ino was a Medic Nin, she would fit in just fine…however there was a better medic then her in Konoha…along with her sensei!

"Then replace them with Kakashi Hatake and Sakura Haruno." She said, smiling at her own logic. Fill in an incomplete team with another incomplete team! Besides, Kakashi and Sakura would fit in perfectly there! Guy's team was a more than capable team of three taijutsu users plus one more member that fought at long distance. All the team's members being Jonin level even though two of them were still Chunnin.

Kurenai's team on the other hand was a tracker unit: Hinata with her Byakugan, Shino with his bugs and Kiba with his nose. Kurenai being a genjutsu Specialist seemed out of place at first, but once the team tracked down whoever they wanted to find, Kurenai could follow the target nearby without being noticed, hidden by a veil of Illusions.

If somebody took out Shino and Kurenai the team would seem somehow incomplete, but by adding Kakashi and Sakura they got a mid-range fighter with impressive tracking skills not to mention the trump card concealed under his forehead protector and one of Konoha's best Medic Nin with a chakra control that either matched or surpassed a Jonin's that was more than capable of defending herself in the battlefield.

What in the world could go wrong?

"I will, Lady Tsunade!" Shizune said with a nod. "Do you want them to meet you here?"

The Sannin thought for a moment… "No…tell them to meet me at the village gates."

"Right, milady!" Shizune said turning towards the door.

"And Shizune…" Said Tsunade in a playful tone as she watched the woman turn to face her. "Tell them to pack up. This won't be a short mission"

"Yes, Milady." Shizune said with a nod before dashing off.

_30 minutes later, at the Leaf's gates..._

Tsunade watched as the Chunnin she had summoned and Neji lazily yawned, and tried to keep awake. All of them except Rock Lee had been forced to wake up early because of the mission they had been handpicked to play a part in.

"Neji! Tenten! What is this?!" Guy shouted. "You've got to show the Hokage your shinning YOUTH!" He then proceeded to give his team a nice guy pose, earning a grin from both Neji and Tenten.

"Hey, Guy! Leave them alone will ya...? They just woke up." Kakashi requested as he raised his head from his Icha Icha Violence book. He had read it twenty eight times but refused to put it down.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei..." Tenten said, tiredly.

"Master, why did you wake us up that early, couldn't you have sent someone else...? And why is this mission so important?" Sakura asked in a complaining tone to Tsunade.

Tsunade cleared up his throat, making the group of teens and the two adults with them quiet. "Listen up! The mission you receive today is what will define the future of the alliance between the Leaf and the Sand, an alliance we cannot afford to lose!" The Hokage's words put an end to the tiredness and daydreams of the team members and replaced it with awareness and full attention on the matter. "Now my next words may shock you, after all something like this had never happened in the history of the five countries but...the Kazekage of the sand has been kidnapped!"

Tension was suddenly present in the leaf's gates as whispers were heard coming from the team. "Gaara..." Lee whispered to himself, his explosive youth was gone. On the Konoha 10, there was no one closer to the Kazekage than Lee. They had fought in the Chunnin exams once. The fight had crippled Lee, forcing him to go through a dangerous surgery. Later, when Lee had already recovered, they met once again, this time to fight together against a common enemy. Those events had made them develop a mutual respect for one another.

"Yes...it all happened earlier today. An enemy entered the Hidden Sand and the Kazekage personally confronted him...however Gaara was no match for the enemy and was captured, the enemy then fled." Tsunade explained.

"He...fled?" Kiba asked, suspiciously.

"It seems suspicious..." Neji pondered. "Why would the enemy flee only with the Kazekage without acquiring anything out of it?"

"Maybe he was after the Kazekage's head..." Tenten theorized. "The price on it must be high, mustn't it?"

"Maybe..." Neji said, however he did not seem very sure of himself.

"Continuing..." Tsunade called, gaining everyone's attention. "Your mission is to go to the Hidden Sand with Kakashi in the lead and offer them your services. The possibility of you ending up going after the Kazekage is undoubtedly high...so be careful."

"We will." Kakashi promised. "Won't we?" The group members nodded.

Tsunade smiled and closed her eyes. "In that case...you may go." She said with a quick movement of her hand, as soon as she opened her eyes again the group of shinobi were gone.

_Meanwhile, in the desert of the sand..._

Naruto's last clone dashed at Sasori's last puppet, the clone landed with a Rasengan in the puppet's head, but the puppet managed to stab through the clone. The puppet was destroyed and the clone disappeared in a poof of smoke, the only people left in the battlefield were now the real Naruto and Sasori.

Naruto stood tall with his sword pointed at Sasori, smiling as his eyes turned back to normal, he had to save the fox's chakra after all...Sasori on the other hand was shaking with anger, he couldn't believe this kid had defeated every single one of the puppets he threw at him with such ease...now he had to fight alone...

Both looked at each other's eyes before hearing a sound coming from their left, as they turned to see what was it, Naruto and Sasori both looked at an incoming wave of sand. "A sandstorm...?" Naruto asked no one in particular. Seconds later, both Uzumaki were hit by the storm. Naruto used his cloak to protect himself while noticing that Sasori didn't need any protection against the sand. Of course...his skin was wood...that would make the fight even more difficult for the younger Uzumaki...

The one throw the first blow was Sasori, the puppeteer raised his hands towards Naruto as fire came out of both of them and towards the Jinchuuriki. Naruto in response did a fast series of hand seal before countering fire with fire. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Fireball and Flamethrower clashed, pushing back one another. However, Naruto soon started to gain the upper hand. Seeing this, Sasori's hands ceased the flames before shooting a jet of water towards Naruto's fireball and putting the fire down.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed as he jumped back, dodging the twin jets of water. As soon as he landed, the boy slashed his sword towards Sasori and a wave shaped beam was launched towards the puppeteer.

"Damn it!" Sasori exclaimed before the rope in his torso was launched towards somewhere on his far left, the puppeteer then proceeded to pull himself towards the place where the rope had been launched. As soon as Sasori was safely out of the attack's range, Naruto appeared behind him with a body flicker, ready to put the puppeteer down with a strike of the Yamato. However Sasori had an ace up his sleeve. As Naruto's blade was about to hit the puppeteer another blade came out of the ground between the two Uzumaki and intercepted the Yamato. Naruto unfortunately recognized the blade, it was Hiruko's tail.

"My turn." Sasori said with a sadistic tone evident in his voice as his free arm revealed a compartment in his forearm, out of this compartment a 20 cm long blade came out and prepared to stab the other Uzumaki. Naruto summoned a kunai as fast as he could to block the attack before jumping back to avoid further danger.

As soon as he landed, the Jinchuuriki realized that the sandstorm would turn out to be a bigger problem than he originally thought it would. The sand in his eyes was blinding him...sure, he could feel Sasori by his chakra and smell him down, however his sight's loss would turn out too much of a weakness in a fight….he had to protect himself...with that thought Naruto looked for a safe spot only to remember of the crater Hiruko had made. Yeah...the crater would do a decent hideout from the storm.

With that thought in mind Naruto dashed towards were he had last seen the crater. Sasori soon realized what the boy was planning and launched the rope that occupied his stomach's place said rope had a projectile at It's end so it could attach It'self to where the user launched it. As the younger Uzumaki was 10 meters from reaching the crater, his older clansmen appeared in front of him. "I know what you are planning and i am not letting you through!" Shouted Sasori.

"GO TO HELL!" Answered Naruto as he summoned his air armor around him. Sasori was then forced to make quick work of his fingers as a puppet torso with two arms and a sword strapped to It's back but no head came out of the ground with a chakra shield in each hand that held down the armor.

"I said I am not letting you pass!" Sasori repeated.

"And I said GO TO HELL!" Naruto also repeated as he released his armor, causing an explosion of air to throw Sasori back and to destroy the already severely damaged puppet. Sasori fell down on the crater's ground followed by Naruto who landed some meters away from him.

"Damn you!" Sasori shouted as he made a hand seal and the rope on his stomach flew towards Naruto. The boy simply threw a wind enhanced kunai that changed the projectile at the rope's end's trajectory, the rope flew next to Naruto's shoulder and the kunai hit Sasori's chest in the small space between his chunk of meat and rope compartment, right where Naruto had stabbed him. The kunai in Sasori's chest caused the hole to grow bigger.

"I...will kill you!" Shouted the puppet as he did another hand seal and pulled himself towards Naruto, who in response to the human puppet's move raised his sword.

"Razor..." Naruto whispered as his sword acquired an white aura. "WIND!" He finished with a shout as the attack flew towards Sasori. The older Uzumaki tried to dodge it but he couldn't. The attack took away his right arm and metal wing as he continued flying towards Naruto...but the boy wasn't finished yet...Naruto grabbed the rope that was pushing Sasori and used it to throw the puppeteer down on the ground behind him.

As Sasori woke up he saw Naruto with his foot on top of the compartment in his chest, not letting him stand up. "It's over." Naruto said in triumph.

"Not just yet!" Shouted Sasori. What happened next was that the human puppet used the sand on the ground and threw it at Naruto's eyes, blinding him. He then used the kunai that was on his chest to stab the boy's ankle making him shout in pain. Finally, once Naruto had gotten off his chest he pointed his open palm at his younger clansman as a powerful jet of water came out of it. The jet threw Naruto across the crater to land on the other side; if it wasn't for the soft sand in which he landed he would have broken something. More than quickly he took the kunai out of his ankle and threw it aside. The pain was way too strong... he closed his eyes telling himself to ignore the burning feeling. He had to focus...otherwise it would be all in vain.

Once he opened his eyes again, Naruto saw Sasori with a sword in his only hand. "It's over, Jinchuuriki..." He said. Naruto grabbed his Yamato and threw it at the human puppet, who easily dodged it. "Can't you see it's pointless?" He said as he raised his sword, about to strike the Jinchuuriki down. Naruto wondered if the puppeteer still planned on capturing him alive...

And it was then that it all happened.

Sasori never saw the shadow behind him coming. He didn't expect Naruto to have a trump card. He should have, but he didn't. Too bad it was too late once he realized it.

A Shadow Clone fell out of the sky with the blade Naruto had thrown in hand and as he landed he stabbed right through the chunk of meat in Sasori's chest.

"You shouldn't have kept a chunk of meat with "weak point" written all over it in your chest." Naruto said with a smirk as the shadow clone behind Sasori disappeared.

"Yeah..." Sasori agreed. "Maybe I shouldn't..."

The puppeteer felt next to him with the sword through his chest. Both Uzumaki stayed there, helpless as sand slowly covered their bodies. Some minutes passed and the sandstorm faded away. Once the storm had settled Naruto decided to break the silence. "I want my answers."

Sasori nodded. "Despite not appearing to be so, I am a man of my word. First off the Uzumaki clan..." Sasori sighed. "We are both part of a very powerful and old clan, Naruto. We were once founders of a country: The Land of Whirlpools or Uzioshigakure... we were specialists in fuuinjutsu, the art of sealing. Such a powerful clan...and then...it happened." That caught Naruto's attention. "About sixteen years ago Uzioshigakure was destroyed. No one knows by whom, it's a mystery left in history...such an event..."

Naruto understood and nodded. He wanted to make questions but he knew that his time was short. "What about Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasori thought for a moment before answering. "I personally do not know much about him, but i know he is being trained by Orochimaru. Nine days from now... in nine days I am to meet one of my spies, infiltrated within Orochimaru's hideout in the Tenchi Bridge, in the land of grass."

"I see..." Naruto said, he then got up. His ankle had partially healed but he would still have to be careful about it."...thank you."

"Uzumaki Naruto...your friend, the Kazekage, was taken to the Akatsuki hideout in the Land of Rivers. Consider the information an award for being able to defeat me..." Sasori told him.

With no other words, Naruto pulled his blade from Sasori's artificial heart as life left the puppet body. "Goodbye…Sasori of the Red Sand". Naruto paid his respects as he sheathed his blade and looked at the direction the sun had risen. East, the direction of the Land of Rivers. The direction Gaara was. Naruto prepared for the journey and started walking towards the sun.

**Author's Note: Well, here we are. The battle has ended, in case nobody realized Naruto defeated the three forms of Sasori with strategies he used in part one against three of his enemies:**

**Hiruko=Neji: Comes out of the ground and punches him.**

**Third Kazekage=Zabuza: Transform into a fuma shuriken and take him out with a pointy object**

**Sasori=Kakashi: Clone comes from behind for a surprise attack**


	9. The Extraction Begins

Temari was laying on her room's bed. Since she had finished taking care of the Chunnin Exams preparations early she was allowed to return to the sand early. She had departed from the leaf the previous day and had stopped in small town in the Land Of Rivers, near its borders with the sand. There she decided to rest in a small Inn for the night. The blode had promised to herself she would leave to Suna after lunch...she didnt truly want to return to her home...being part of the Kazekage council was tiring, staying in the leaf with Shikamaru was her vacation...even tough she still had to work it was less troublesome with the Nara boy to keep her company...did she just say (or think, whatever) "tiresome"? Maybe spending too much time with him wasn't such a good thing as she originaly thought...

Her line of thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock in her room's door. "Im going..." Temari lazily saind as she got up from her bed and walked towards the door. Once she opened it she saw a woman, not much older than her, standing in the door.

"Excuse me, are you miss Temari?" The young woman asked.

"Yes, that is me. Why the question?"

"Well, a group of people said they were your friends and were looking for you."

That confused Temari. Who could want to see her? Why? She didn't really get it...but whoever they were the blonde could take care of yourself. "What is your name?" She asked the woman.

" My name...?" She pointed at herself. Temari nodded. "My name is Shigeku."

"Well then, Shigeku..." The Suna kunoichi said with a smile. "Tell them i will be going there soon."

"Yes." Shigeku told her before running off, probably to tell the others Temari's' message.

Ten Minutes later, there was Temari. As she walked out of the building, she drifted her hand to the fan on her back. If any enemies were to attack, the fan would be her weapon.

Luckily, once she walked out of the Inn she didn't meet any Missing Nin. Instead, standing next to the building's wall were Eight Shinobi, all wearing the same headband with a leaf shaped symbol engraved on it. One of them approached her and she instantly recognized him as the once sensei of the one who had saved Gaara from his own darkness. "Kakashi Hatake..." Temari greted the silver haired Shinobi as she removed her hand from her fan.

"Yoh." Kakashi greeted her as well in his usual weird way to say hello. "Good yo see you, Temari san..."

Despite him saying that, Temari noted how grim the team's humor was, she tried to recognize them based on their previous chunnin exams...

There were the two Hyuuga, the male one was the one Naruto had defeated while the female one was the one who he had swore to win against her cousin to. There was the Rock Lee guy who had fought Gaara and his sensei. There was the other one Naruto had beaten and his pet dog, the one who she had fought (was it Tenten?) and the pink hair from the boy's team. She hadn't seen them in those two years since when she went to the leaf the Chunnin exams were her priority...for some reason they all seemed to be in a grim mood.

"Did...something happen?" Temari asked with a serious tone.

"Well..." Kakashi sighed as he proceeded to explain the situation until he got to a certain point...

"WHAT?! Gaara was kidnaped?! By who?!" She shouted, struggling to stay calm.

Kakashi looked at her for an instant before saying a word Temari feared to hear. It was loud enough for her to hear but the other teenagers never heard the word...that word... Jiraiya had warned the sand, howerver they had been to careless. Or had they? Sunagakure had prepared in case this happened...still, they let Gaara confront one of them alone! Why would they do that? Now he was gone...and it would be nearly impossible to find him ever again! He had been captured by the organization that hunted jinchuuriki, by the red cloud of blood, by the worst of the worst...

Gaara was now in the hands of the Akatsuki.

_Earlier that day, somewhere else in the land of rivers..._

Deidara stood in front of the gigantic rock that guarded the Akatsuki hideout before he jumped off his bird to land in the water bellow him. He then walked calmly to the rock and touched it with two of his fingers. On queue the rock rose high in the air, letting Deidara and his bird with the Kazekage in his mouth pass through it before descending again to block the way of the intruders that attempted to enter their hideout.

The room was shaped round with almost one hundred meters from one wall to another, the celling was also high. It was almost totally empty, if not for a big lake of deep water facing the entrance of the hideout. Deidara kneeled in the middle of the room facing the lake before starting doing a series of handseals. "Saru, Tori, Saru, Inu, Mi, Ushi, I, Inu, Tori, Hare, Tora, Tatsu, U, Tora!"

As the Akatsuki member finished his handseals the teal colored ring Deidara wore in his right index finger started glowing. After that a gigantic statue with a blindfold on its eyes rose from the lake as Deidara's clay bird dropped the Kazekage in the ground and flew towards its owner. The blonde jumped on the C2's back and flew towards the statue's right index finger as its nails started glowing with symbols, mimicking the symbol each member had in its ring, for example: Deidara wore the ring with the kanji symbol for "blue"(青). The same symbol was now glowing in the nail of the finger he was standing in.

The seven other members of the organization soon appeared using their astral projection technique atop their respective fingers. The leader was the first to speak on the group. "Deidara...you are just on time...where is Sasori?" He said.

"Leader Sama. Sasori stayed back to capture another jinchuuriki who unexpectedly appeared." Deidara said, excusing his companion's absence.

"So, i see...it wouldn't be smart to start the ritual without him. Zetsu, find and tell Sasori to meet us here." The leader said to one of the Akatsuki.

"Yes, leader." Zetsu said as he made a handseal and dismised his astral projection jutsu.

_Minutes later, somewhere in the Desert of the Sand..._

Zetsu emerged from the ground to find quite the scene. There was a crater in the middle of what apeared to be a battlefield with various destroyed puppets. In the middle of the crater was the dead corpse of Sasori in his puppet form.

"He's dead... and it apears that he fought quite the battle..." Zetsu said.

"It must have been interesting, it left quite the scar in the ground..." another voice coming from Zetsu said.

"So he is dead...it means that the master plan can now begin..." A voice coming from behind the Akatsuki said.

Zetsu then turned to see a man wearing an orange mask with spiked up black hair and clothes of the same color, he also wore a scarf around his neck despite the place's hot weather.

"Well, well...i did not expect to find you here...So this is your new mask?" The black part of Zetsu said to the mask man.

"This is none of your matter. You should return to the Akatsuki and report Sasori's death." He said as he walked towards the puppeteer's dead wooden body and took the purple coloured ring out of the man's left thumb. He observed the marking in the ring, the Kanji for jewel on it (玉) that could also be refereed as the black king in shogi. Unknown to Zetsu, he smiled behind his mask since it was quite a fitting ring for the true leader of the Akatsuki.

"Be prepared, Zetsu...from here on out things will only get worse..." The masked man warned the creature as he walked away.

"As you prefer...Tobi..." Black Zetsu said with a smirk as he watched Tobi use his space time techinique to disapear completely, leaving both black and white creatures alone.

_Minutes later, back in the Akatsuki Hideout..._

Zetsu's image suddenly reappeared in the right little finger of the statue. "So, were is he?" Hidan asked him.

"I hate to say it...but somehow Sasori was defeated..." The news shocked the Akatsuki, mainly Deidara.

"Sasori is dead...? So that Jinchuuriki..." He said, not quite believing hid partner had died on the hands of the boy he had fought earlier.

"Well, this is a pity indeed...Sasori was quite an asset to this organization, finding a suitable replacement will not be an easy task..." The leader comented.

"Actually..." Zetsu said, calling the atention of the organization. "There is someone who i believe is a suitable replacement for Sasori..."

The leader understood the message and spoke up. "Whoever the person you have in mind is, we must proceed the ceremony. After the extraction of the Ichibi, we must talk in private, Zetsu." The "two in one" Akatsuki member nooded at this.

"Dont we get to know his name?" Kakuzu asked, curious.

"His name is Tobi." Zetsu answered.

"Tobi, huh?" Kisame said with a small laugh. "That name doesn't seem that menacing...don't you agree, Itachi san?" The shark man looked at his companion.

"You shouldn't judge someone by their name, Kisame..." Said Itachi. He knew that better than anyone since he was a criminal with a 75k ryo prize on his head on the bingo book but was named Itachi... "Anyhow, this is a mater that can be discussed later. Now we have to seal the Ichibi no Shukaku."

"Thank you Itachi. Now before we go on let me explain to you all: Originally this jutsu was meant to take three days or 72 hours. However, without Sasori this jutsu will take more than normal, more precisely 80 hours." The leader told the members. No one liked the news but they were all obliged to go with the flow. With that out of the way, he raised his hands in a handseal and all the members copied him simultaniously doing a series of six handseals before the leader shouted. "Sealing Jutsu: Eight Phantom Dragons." With that the statue opened its mouth and eight dragons of pure chakra came out of it, fusing into one giant dragon before dashing at the Jinchuuriki. Upon hitting Gaara, the ground around him broke and he was raised on the air as seals covered his body and his eyes went blank. The extraction had begun.

_Later that day, near the village of Sunagakure..._

Nine people walked on the road to the Hidden Sand Village. Eight Konoha shinobi and one Suna kunoichi that joined the group later on after knowing what was happening headed to help as they possibility could in the dire situation.

As they arived in the gates of the sand they were greeted by an older Shinobi that the suna kunoichi knew very well and two Suna Anbu. "Baki..." Temari said to her once sensei.

"Temari...and the Konoha Shinobi..." Baki said greeting the group led by Kakashi.

"Were is Kankuro?" Temari asked.

"Well...you see..."Baki then proceeded to explain to the group how Kankuro foolishly confronted one of the man who had captured Gaara.

"What?! Is he okay?!" The Kunoichi shouted, roping her bag to the ground as she walked hesitantly towards the man.

"Temari...I do not want to lie to you...if your brother is not treated by an experienced Medic Nin..." He didnt manage to finish the sentence.

"Is there anyone who can save him?!" Temari asked with tears in her eyes.

"No...the best medic Nin in the village, Lady Chiyo, could only manage to ease his suffering and to delay his death..." Baki said. "Only someone with the techniques of the legendary Slug Sannin Tsunade is able to save him..."

As if it was her queue, Sakura steeped forward. "Excuse me...my name is Sakura Haruno and i do believe i can help."

Baki recognized the pink haired girl from the Chunnin Exams, she had lost against another blond girl from Konoha after a pathetic fight..."Im sorry, but i dont think so. As i previously said only someone with the Fifth Hokage's techniques is able to-"

"I am the fifth's apprentice!" Sakura said, interrupting and surprising the rather rude man.

"Well...this is a pleasant surprise." Baki said with his eyebrows raised.

"Sakura, please!" Temari said with tearful eyes as she grabbed Sakura's hand. "You've got to save my brother! Please, please! I'll do anything!" Temari said, louder than she expected. Truth was that her father never gave the three sand siblings, her mother had died giving birth to Gaara, who turned out to be a monster. Because of him, no child got near Temari or the middle sibling afraid of Gaara. Temari and Kankuro grew up with each other as their only companies. They had a love/hate relationship but when it came to it, she cared for him as much as she cared for Gaara...

Seeing the despair in Temari's eyes, Sakura only placed her hand atop the hand the Suna Kunoichi was already holding and smilled. "Don't worry...I'll save him no matter what."

Temari suddenly opened her mouth to say something but stooped herself and smiled before thanking Sakura with a nod of her head.

"Now, where is the patient?" The pink haired medic nin asked as she turned to face Baki.

The Sand Nin only glanced at one of the Anbu who accompanied him before ordering her to scout Sakura to the hospital where the Kazekage's brother was being kept. The masked ninja then nodded before her and Sakura dashed off on the streets of the Hidden Sand Village.

"Alright then...Well, i guess we have to discuss what will be our role in the mission to rescue the Kazekage." Kakashi said, steping up to talk to Baki.

"Yes, indeed. We will have to talk to the Kazekage council to decide that. " Baki said.

Kakashi then turned to his team. "I will be out for a while. You guys should go to the hotel, rest a bit, you deserve it."After saying that, the copy ninja turned towars Baki and both body flickered away.

"REST?! WE DO NOT NEED REST! LEE! LET US SHOW SUNA THE POWER OF OUR YOUTH!" Guy shouted to his team.

"YOSH!" The younger version of Guy shouted as he and his sensei started doing push ups on the ground, aparently uncaring for the people who looked at him strangely.

"Tenten! Neji! Will you join us in your youthull exercise?" Guy asked the rest of his team.

"Hell No!" Neji shouted as he walked off.

"Neji Nii san, wait!" Hinata called as she ran after him followed by Kiba.

"Umm, well...sorry..." Tenten said to her sensei before following the group.

_Early the next day..._

Neji woke up in the room because of the sound of his hotel room's door closing. His team had been granted five rooms in that hotel for a two night stay, Kakashi could stay in his room alone, Kiba and Akamaru stayed in one room, Guy and Lee in another, Tenten and Sakura also stayed togheter. Last but not least he had stayed with Hinata...it was probably better this way. He looked out of the window, the sky was still dark. He slowly got off his bed to see that Hinata was not laying in the bed next to him. "Oh, crap..."

Neji soon shot off the hotel and jumped on top of a nearby building before activating his Byakugan. From far away he felt Hinata's chakra atop one of the twin walls of Sunagakure. With that in his mind he shot off to meet his cousin.

Mewnwhile atop the wall, Hinata was looking at the horizon lost in her thoughts as she watched the horizon awatening for the sunrise while lost in her own thoughts. "What are you doing here, Hinata Sama?" A familiar voice asked behind her.

"Neji!" The Hyuuga heiress said as she turned to face her cousin. "I...Well, i just..."

Neji laughed. "Its okay, Hinata Sama..." He said as he sat besides here at the tallest place in all the sand village. "I think you can take care of yourself. However, it is still my duty to protect you nonetheless."

"Thank you...Nii san" She said with a smile on her face. After that both Hyuuga stayed in sillence watching the horizon, it took some seconds for Hinata to make the question she had been taking courage to ask her cousin.

"Where do you think he is?" She asked. They both knew who Hinata was talking about.

Neji looked at her for some seconds before looking towards the sky. "I don't know...but i assure you Naruto is safe wherever he is."

"How can you say that if you don't even know of his location, Nii san?"

"Well..." The branch Hyuuga hesitated as if thinking on the answer. "There is no way to explain that properly, but...Naruto is much stronger than what meets the eye in more ways than one can imagine...I know that first hand..."

Hinata somewhat knew the answer to her question but she decided she wanted to hear it from Neji. "What is this strengh you talk about?"

Neji looked at her surprised. "You should know that...you do don't you, you just want my opinion." Hinata smilled shilly and blushed while looking down but said nothing. "Well then i shall tell you..." Neji cleared his throat and began.

"One of the things that make Naruto so strong in my opinion is his beliefs and how he holds on to them... Naruto would put his life in risk if someone ever doubted his Nindo and while that may seem like a weakness...it is not. I know that first hand...you see, Hinata Sama...that day, in the Chunnin exams two and a half years ago me and Naruto did more then trade blows and blades...we clashed our beliefs one against each other..."

_Two and a half years ago, Chunnin Exam stadium, Konoha..._

"Your 64 chakra points are now shut...How are you, who cannot use chakra planning to fight?"

That was the question Neji asked to his oponent after using his ultimate attack against his oponent, the Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms that blocked the user's chakra points followed by a direct Gentle Fist in Naruto Uzumaki's chest. That should have stopped the foolish boy from geting back up, that should have stoped him from fighting back...yet, there he was...clinging to his stupid belief to never give up. His breath was heavy and his body was trembling, but there he was...on his two feet...almost asking Neji to beat him down to a pulp...

"At the end of the day, you and Hinata Sama share the very same destiny..." He commented, mocingly making a reference to the cousin he had almost killed in battle as he activated his Byakugan.

"Shut up! You with your Byakugan, labeling people and talking like you understand!" Naruto shouted back.

"If that is the case...then show me wether you're belief is true or not."

"I will! I will defeat you no matter what and prove it to you!" Naruto then concentrated his two hands into a tiger handseal as he tried to summon his chakra with no avail. He then seemed to realize something and closed his eyes, but Neji was already tired of this guy...

"Proctor...I am going to fight him with killing intent! If you are to stop me, be free to do so." Hte proctor only sighed as Neji turned back to face Naruto, the crowd around them was sillent as the boy continued trying to call his chakra. "Didn't i tell you it is pointless?" Naruto simply ignored the Hyuuga's warning and continued the atttempt to call forth Chakra. Neji simply smirked and nod his head in disaproval.

""Why do you try to go against your destiny so much?" He asked the blond boy.

"Because people called me a failure..."

It was then that it all happened, a strong wind came from Naruto as a red Chakra began surrounding him. That chakra...Neji had never seen anything like it...he wasn't even sure it was really chakra! The red energy gathered around Naruto, forming nine tails of chakra around the boy. Neji couldnt believe it...this boy...this failure...this chakra! It didnt match! He wasnt sure what was happening but it took one look on Naruto's blue eyes to see that this battle was far from over.

"...i will prove them wrong."

_Back to the present..._

"Naruto...its true, he will never abandon what he believes in...ever...and despite that making him look like a fool, he does not seem to care...that is, Hinata Sama, one of the many reasons i think Naruto Uzumaki is so strong." As Neji finished, Hinata looked at him surprised , she had no idea Neji thought of Naruto so highly.

However...the truth was that he didn't. Not anymore...Naruto had changed into an arrogant prick...and he didn't like it. However he wouldn't say that in front of his lovestruck cousin of course.

"Its true..." Hinata said as she looked towards the now rising sun. "Wherever Naruto Kun is, i bet he's safe..." With that, bith Hyuuga watched the sunrising that brang with it yet another day.

_Meanwhile, in the land of rivers..._

Naruto was running through a forest, jumping from tree to tree, he had slept too much and now Gaara might be in danger because of him oversleeping...at least his wound on his ankle had healed...however, his body was still not 100% since the fight with Sasori had tired him out. He soon ljumped out of the forrest to find himself facing a river...well, that was the land of rivers aftfter all.

Naruto walked to the shore and freshened up...that was going to be a long day.

Of course he didn't notice the various crows flying above him until they started gathering in the other shore to form a man, a black haired men with bred sharingan eyes. "Naruto Uzumaki...come with me or face the consequences..."

Naruto stood up, surprised to see who they had sent after him...that man...that man who had killed his clan in cold blood...that man who had driven Sasuke into going after Orochimaru in his search for power...

"Itachi...Uchiha!"

**Author's Note: One more day, one more chapter, the longest one yet. i am about to reach my 5000th view and for that i thank you all, all the followerd or favoriters (Is there such a word)for pushing me furhter on. Please leave a review on the chapter, SkywardStrike out.**


	10. VS Itachi

Naruto stared across the river at the man with the sharingan as the memory of their previous meeting came back to his mind.

_Three years earlier, land of fire, random Inn…_

A twelve year old Naruto was waiting for his sensei to return ever so ignorant so they could continue their training. Jiraiya had gone out with a random woman he had meet on the streets and left Naruto in the town's inn, and so he lay in his bed, waiting for the Sannin's return. He then heard a knock on the door. "What? You have been dumped already and decided to come back?" Naruto said, teasing his teacher.

He heard the knock again, this time with certain violence in it. "Ok, ok…I'm going, hang on a minute, will ya?"He walked towards the door and unlocked it before opening. Standing outside was a young man wearing a black cloak with his sharingan activated.

Naruto looked deep into the man's eyes unable to say anything. At first he thought it was Sasuke…but…no…his sharingan was different, he was taller, he was darker…just who was that man?

"Naruto Uzumaki…" Itachi said in a dark tone. "We would like you to come with us…"

_Back to the present…_

The Uzumaki looked at the man across the river, not daring to stare at his eyes. "Should I take this as a no?" Itachi asked playfully.

"FUCK YOU!" The boy shouted as he summoned several shuriken and threw them at Itachi. The Uchiha easily dodged all of them before backfliping to dodge the last one, a fuma shuriken. He landed atop a nearby rock and watched down at Naruto.

"Well, well Naruto Kun…that wasn't very polite of you…" Itachi said once again, watching Naruto atop the rock.

The Uzumaki only unsheated his sword before focusing chakra into it and readying his attack. "Razor…WIND!" The Sword's beam traveled the river at high speed, as it was about to hit Itachi the man made a handseal and whispered two words.

"Body flicker."

The rock exploded in contact with the beam and Itachi reappeared five meters from the place where the Razor Wind had exploded, next to the river's shore. He looked back to the place he previously stood, now destroyed. That boy had truly grown powerfull...

Naruto then focused his chakra on a handseal before performing his signature technique. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A poof of smoke apeared next to him and suddenly two clones, both with a sword in hand, were dashing at Itachi.

The first clone tried to slash at Itachi but the Uchiha intercepted it, he jumped over the clone while grabbing his shoulder, he then threw it against the other clone. The act was followed by two handseals and a fire style jutsu. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu." The Akatsuki then shot a gigantic fireball towards Naruto, it engulfed the two clones but Naruto was fast enough to jump aside, dodging the fireball except for a slight burn in his legs. He then regained his composure and ignored the burn before dashing towards Itachi with a punch ready.

Naruto tried to punch the Uchiha without looking at his eyes, but was unsuccessful as Itachi dodged it with the help of his sharingan. The two then began trading blows of taijutsu. However, Itachi clearely held the upper hand and after a short while Naruto was forced to stay on defense to avoid further damage. "You've got better..." The Uchiha commented. "But its still not enough." Itachi then kicked Naruto's chest, throwing him back against the river's shore.

"Why...?" Naruto said, geting up. "Why did the send especifically you...? Was it because we had met before?"

Itachi looked at Naruto without saying a word, he then started thinking about the boy's question...

_Fifteen minutes earlier, Akatsuki Hideout of the Land of Rivers..._

The Akatsuki continued with their three day long ritual. Sillence was present except for the sound made by the eight phantom dragons, a sillence that was broken by Zetsu. "Leader Sama, i do believe we have a problem..."

The whole Akarsuki looked at the creature before the Leader gave his word. "Speak, Zetsu."

"It seems that someone is aproaching our hideout, i do believe this someone is Naruto Uzumaki..."

Sillence once again began reigning in the room at the mention of Sasori's killer.

"Let me take care of him!" Hidan shouted. "I'm gonna finish him off good..."

"No, let me go!" Deidara requested. "He killed my partner; it's my job to avenge Sasori!"

The Akatsuki members began arguing over who should be the one to go after the nine tailed fox Jinchuuriki. "SILLENCE!" The leader shouted, the whole group obeyed the man's order, sillence was present once again, the leader spoke once again. "The one who will go after the Kyuubi jinchuuriki will be...Itachi Uchiha!"

The members of the Akatsuki looked at the young Uchiha, he was one of the few members that didn't request to go after Naruto Uzumaki.

"Why him?!" Hidan shouted at the leader. "He doesn't even want to go after the Jinchuuriki! At least send someone who wants to do the job!"

Before the leader itself could speak Itachi did. "Despite me disagreeing with Hidan's way of expressing it i have to agree with him... I do not want the job Leader Sama, pardon me for doing so."

Thw leader sighed before talking. "Itachi...I am sorry if you do not want the job but you and Kisame are both the only ones who met the boy in person. I believe however, that you are the most qualified of the two of you to hunt the boy down, no offense, Kisame."

"No offense taken..." The shark man said.

"I will use my impersonating technique on you so you can fight off the boy or at least delay him while we continue the ritual." The leader explained.

Itachi sighed as his superior said that. "If that is the case...I accept the mission." He finally said.

_Back to the present…_

"I never wished for this mission…" Itachi said. "However I was chosen to eliminate you. I shall not fail…"

Naruto got up with the help of his sword's scabbard and smirked. "I'm really sorry to bring it to you…" Naruto unsheathed his sword and ran towards Itachi. "BUT IT'S NOT HAPPENING!"

Itachi sighed. "Too bad…" He said before drawing forth his kunai and entering a defensive position. "But who am I to oppose if you want things to go this way?"

Naruto then proceeded to attack the Akatsuki using the full extent of his swordsmanship skills, leaving his enemy in the defense, cornering him while looking for a chance to strike.

Finally this chance appeared as Itachi left his guard wide open, Naruto did a one handed tiger hand seal and prepared to attack. "Razor Wind!" He stabbed through the Uchiha with his glowing white blade but was surprised to see dozen of crows flying out of Itachi's cloak as he did that. The crows scratched and pecked him until they all took the form of a man holding a kunai to his neck while standing behind him.

"Genjutsu…" Naruto commented. "When…? I never looked into your eyes?"

"There are more ways to put someone under an illusion than by making eye contact." He said as he disappeared once again into a dozen crows that began flying around Naruto. The crows continued with this until they all dashed towards Naruto, all the while taking the form of Fuma Shuriken.

This was not real…it was an illusion. Naruto couldn't lose to an illusion! Gaara…he was counting on him…that was why he couldn't fail!

The shuriken hit him. The pain was numbing. Naruto bit his lower lip and blood came out. He summoned a kunai from the seal in his arm and quickly used it to stab his hand.

Suddenly all the pain was gone, except for his hand blood feel from his self-inflicted wound to fall on the river's clear water while Itachi watched from the other side of the lake, sited on the ground with an eyebrow raised.

"You are indeed interesting, Uzumaki…and you really changed too! Makes me wonder if Konoha really should have exiled you…"

"Shut up!" Naruto answered as he threw the kunai he had in hand at Itachi. The man simply threw his own kunai against Naruto's; both projectiles canceled each other and feel on the river.

"But it is true, you have more talent than you think" The man observed.

"I told you…" Naruto warned once again as he placed his hand atop his blade's hilt. "…TO SHUT UP!"

"Don't." A voice said behind him as an Itachi clone appeared behind him and did a series of handseals before pointing his open palm at the boy. With that action water rose, trapping Naruto in a water prison.

"That jutsu I copied from Kisame really DID end up being useful…" The Akatsuki said, getting up and walking towards Naruto. "Well, never mind that, the capture was successful…"

As soon as Itachi was in front of Naruto the boy made three quick hand seals and clapped his hands, resulting on a wind armor forming around him. He then opened his hands wide, forcing the sphere to expand, destroying the water prison and the clone that was holding it. Unfortunately, the original Itachi jumped away and managed to escape the explosion, landing safely in the other side of the river.

"Not bad…but you'll have to do better." The Uchiha said as he entered his fighting stance.

"I will…" He said making an all too familiar hand seal. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" With a poof several shadow clones appeared and dashed at Itachi.

Itachi only sighed in response before drawing forth eight shuriken, four on each hand. He then proceeded to make four hand seals before throwing the shuriken at Naruto and spitting a fireball at the shuriken. Suddenly they were balls of fire flying towards the various Naruto clones. Some of them managed to dodge, but the great majority didn't as they disappeared in poofs of smoke being hit by the small fireballs. More than half of the Naruto clones were now gone.

The remaining group continuing dashing at Itachi and eventually clashed with the man in a battle of taijutsu. Itachi dispelled some clones with kicks and punches until he managed to jump on the shoulders of a Naruto and leap high in the air. The Uchiha proceeded to spin his body before starting to fall down to the ground as if diving towards it. Nine kunai appeared in his hands as he opened his eyes, activating the sharingan.

Itachi threw each kunai to a precisely calculated position so they all knocked on each other before redirecting themselves towards all the clones present there. Various poofs of smoke were now happening bellow Itachi, the clones were disappearing. He spun his body and feel on the water on his feet, only to witness the unexpected.

Naruto came running out of the smoke that had been raised by the clones with a blue sphere of chakra in his palm. He reached for Itachi and shoved the sphere in the man's abdomen. "RASENGAN!" An explosion of blue threw the Akatsuki back against the river's shore.

Itachi managed to slowly get up only to see the hole on his cloak the Rasengan had made. Pain then filled his body as he coughed, surprised to see blood come out. Itachi felt to its knees and looked at his opponent that was walking towards him.

Naruto watched the man as he made his way towards Itachi, he really had put a lot of chakra In the Rasengan and was now feeling his body tire up himself….Still, that wouldn't stop him from killing off the Akatsuki…but he just couldn't shake off the feeling that this fight was way too easy…

Itachi activated his sharingan, he had one last trump card, the leader had told him to delay Naruto, that's what he would do…

Naruto looked at Itachi, why did he activate his sharingan…? The boy wasn't worried about him using Genjutsu since his chakra reserves were so low. He couldn't be more wrong…

Itachi's sharingan's tomoe rotated clockwise, forming a weird sharingan pattern that looked like three rotating blades. "Tsukuyomi." The Uchiha said in a deep voice.

That was the last thing Naruto heard.

Suddenly an black aura like jutsu that came from Itachi engulfed the whole world, causing the skies to turn red and everything to turn black with white lines detailing it.

"What…?" Naruto asked, before he could finish the question however, the ground rose high in the air, forming a pillar of earth with only him and his opponent standing in it. The ground rose…and rose…and rose…until it reached the skies, there Naruto could see the moon clearly…the moon…it was a sharingan…

He then felt something on his back and realized he was tied to a post while Itachi had a burning sword in hand. Naruto tried to reach for his own blade but realized it was no longer there, he tried to release the Genjutsu with no avail.

"It won't work." Itachi told him. "In this world I am a king, Naruto. This is my reality. Time does not restrict us here."

The Uzumaki boy didn't understand what he meant but before he could ask Itachi teleported before him and seabed him with the fire sword. The pain of the stab was far greater than usual, but that was not just it, as the blade passed through him, the flames engulfed his body, burning him alive.

Naruto shouted but it was in vain, no one would hear him, Itachi was right…in this world he was king…but him…? He was no one…

The fire didn't seem to go away it only burned stronger by the minute. And so, slowly, the boy did something he had promised not to. He gave up. He gave in to the burning pain, to the sword through his stomach. All he could do was to watch Itachi that stood some meters away from him, eyeing him not showing any emotion.

Minutes turned to hours and hours to day until sudenly, after he had long given up and lost perception of time, it was all back to normal. There he was, standing in front of Itachi in the land of rivers.

His body was trembling, he now understood what Itachi said about time…in the genjutsu world days had passed but in real life it had only been moments, mere seconds…

He feel to his knees and couldn't hold himself, Naruto vomited his previous two meals on the ground. That experience…that Genjutsu… it had made his mind and body weaker than he thought possible. The Uzumaki looked at his opponent with no hope of winning their battle left but was surprised to see a man that was definitively not Itachi wearing an Akatsuki cloak, fallen, dead in front of him.

He didn't know what happened but he felt his feet still standing at the river's cold water. He was so tired…his vision became fainter before he feel with his back on the river. The last thing he remembered seeing was the blue morning sky before he fainted and let his body be taken away by the river's current.

_Meanwhile, somewhere in the land of frost…_

Itachi opened his two eyes and took a deep breath. He was sitting atop a tree covered in ice with Kisame by his side.

"How was your mission, Itachi san?" The shark man asked opening his eyes.

"Successful enough or so we might say." He answered, with a sigh.

"What happened?" His partner asked again.

"I made the mistake of using too little chakra on my replacement, I should have known ten percent wouldn't be able to hold down the Jinchuuriki…however his development was more than I expected. My replacement died in my last attempt to put him out with a Tsukuyomi by chakra exhaustion. "

"I see…" Kisame nooded in understandment. He never liked that replacement jutsu. The technique was forbidden for more than a reason.

Primarily because it was a complex technique: the user could only cast the jutsu on other people, not on himself and the one on which the jutsu would be casted upon needed to know the astral projection jutsu, the technique that allowed them to send pieces of their conscious and chakra to other places once summoned. The summoning needed to happen by a certain item that connected all the summoned, in the Akatsuki's case, the ring. The ring also allowed them to talk telepathically to the leader.

Secondly because of the high amount of chakra in which it was needed, if something in the jutsu, anything, backfired the user would instantly die.

Thirdly and finally because of the human sacrifice. It was needed so the one on which the jutsu was casted upon could take its body. The sacrifice, independent wheter the one that inhabited its body survived or not, ended up dying. The sacrifice also couldn't take too much chakra unless its body was previously prepared to do so.

In other words the jutsu had many risks and backfires but he had to admit it was the only technique fit for the job.

"Come on, the leader will be pleased by your success." Kisame said as he executed the needed hand seals to activate the astral projection.

"Let us hope so…" Itachi said as he followed Kisame with the series of handseals before both returned to their state of sleep.

**Author's Note: WOW! I cant believe how many favorites and follows i got last chapter! Thank you guys, really! I never thought id gain so much popularity so quickly! Continuing on...today on the author's note I have three things to say.****  
**

**1. My release time is now officially once a week. Like it? Good. Dislike it? Not my problem.**

**2. I want to request to someone, anyone here with a deviantart account and drawing skills to draw something for this fanfiction. Please…pretty please…**

**3. Last but not least I will now do something to see what you guys have in mind, let us see if it works…its called the question of the day, its simple. I ask you guys a question and you answer it in a review, its basically an opinion for the story, an experience, an idea. So lets try and see what you guys think.**

**QOTD: What Jutsu would you like to see falling in Naruto's hands?**


	11. The Ichibi

The seven Konoha Shinobi were waiting, in front of the twin walls of Suna, for their very last member so they could departure.

They had stayed in the Hidden Village of the sand for two nights so Sakura could cure Kankuro from his poisoning and later look over him as he recuperated. The Kazekage council had also decided that they would be the ones to go after Gaara since they were a prepared equip of trackers.

And so then they were, sundown of their final day in Suna, waiting for their final member to show up, it took him a while but finally he appeared, landing between Guy and Sakura.

"Sorry, team. It appears I am late." Kakashi greeted them. "I do believe I got lost in the long path we call life."

Everyone sweat dropped from this excuse except Guy and Lee. "That's like the oldest excuse ever, Kakashi Sensei… "Sakura commented.

"Well, anyway…it's time for us to get going." Kakashi said as he pulled out a kunai from his weapons' pocket. He then removed his right hand's glove before lightly stabbing his thumb, making a drop of blood fall on his palm. Kakashi then made a series of fast handseals followed by him high fiving the ground with his open palm. "Summoning Jutsu."

A "poof" of smoke appeared in front of the group before the smoke disapeared, revealing eight dog nin from different breeds wearing all the same outfit, which consisted of a blue vest with a face like seall and a Konoha forehead protector. The place where the bandana was varied, some wore it in their foreheads, others wore it around their necks. The dogs also had personal traits, such as one of them wearing sunglasses, other was covered in bandages, other had a seal in his forehead.

"So why did you summon us, Kakashi?" The pug nin asked.

"Well…" Kakashi then proceeded to explain them the situation they currently were in to the summoned hounds.

"I see…" The pug said. "The Kazekage…has been captured, quite the situation you got yourself into Kakashi. Have you got anything that smells like the kidnapper?"

"I do, the Kazekage's brother tried to go after them. He nearly got himself killed fighting one of them but he managed to get this." Kakashi finished, extending a piece of black cloth to the hounds.

The eight dog nin smelled the piece of cloth for some seconds before one of them looked up at Kakashi and asked. "SO is that the smell we have to look for, boss?" The dog asked.

"Yes, this is it."

"I think I caught the trail of it." One of the dog nin said.

"Yeah, me too!" Another one added.

"Ok, then. We will continue shortly, just give me a minute. "Kakashi said before turning towards the team behind him.

"I think you know it already…but a warning is never too much…this mission is unlike anything you guys have ever faced before, so be careful, keep your guards up, never get distracted. Me and Guy Sensei will do anything so we can protect you guys, but there might be times were we are not there to do so…that is why I want to guarantee your safeties, understood?"

The team members all nodded, some more hesitant than others.

"Kakashi, let us departure then." Guy youthfully said

"Fine then…" The copy ninja answered before directing to his hounds. " Pakkun, Bull , Urushi, Shiba, Biscuit, Ūhei, Guruko! " As the Dog Nin were called they looked at their master in response to their names. "We're off!" Kakashi pointed forward, causing all the hounds to disappear with body flickers. "Well, then…shall we follow?"

"YOSH!" Lee shouted youthfully. Neji and Hinata both activated their Byakugan and Kiba mounted Akamaru before all the team members dashed off towards the Kidnappers. "

_Later, somewhere else in the desert of the sand…_

It had been ten minutes that the group was running when Neji saw a crater in the ground.

It was almost completely covered by sand and there were weapons all around it along with destroyed…were those puppets?

But that was not the strange part. Kiba and the dogs had felt the smell of the kidnapper coming from the cratter, so what did that mean…? Was he there?

The group landed on the crater and Neji's doubts were confirmed.

They were Puppets.

Dozens of them, lying around on the ground, destroyed.

"Neji, Hinata, is there something useful for our search here?" Kakashi asked turning towards the two Hyuuga.

"I don't see anything but a few scattered weapons and some puppets… what about you, Hinata Sama?"

"I…no." Hinata said. "There is nothing here."

"I can't smell much either, only poison and steel…not even blood. I think there was a hell of a battle here…" Kiba observed.

"The kid is right, boss…" Biscuit said next to one of the destroyed puppets, almost completely buried by the sand. "The previous smell came from this puppet, the puppeteer is gone."

Kakashi cursed to himself. Of all people the Kankuro guy had to fight…it had to be a puppeteer…why didn't he warn them?! Well…he was knocked out for two days now so he couldn't really say much…

Kakashi felt a hand laying on his shoulder, he turned to see Guy with a serious expression looking at him.

"Don't worry, Kakashi…" Guy told him. "We will find a way to track down those bastards and take the Kazekage back." He said the last line with a nice guy pose. "That's a promise!"

Kakashi's thoughts of how Guy was weird were interrupted by a female voice behind him. "Hey, Kakashi Sensei…take a look at this."The Copy Ninja turned to see Tenten pulling a kunai out of the ground. "Take a look at this…"

Kakashi walked towards the girl to see the kunai she was holding, it didn't seem very special…

"What is it, Tenten?" Kakashi asked. "Its just a kunai."

Tenten nodded with a smart smile, "Yes, at first it appears to be so, but look at this!" She said turning the kunai and pointing to a small symbol in its blade.

She was right…the blade wasn't as common as it appeared to be at first sight, the small symbol was nothing less than a whirlpool he recognized very well. Kakashi then realized there was blood on the blade, it was dry but he could still feel a small feint smell coming from it. The Jounin approached the blade to his nose and suddenly his eyes widened as he recognized the smell.

"Is there something wrong, Kakashi Sensei?" Sakura asked, worried about her sensei, he seemed in shock after nearing the blade to his nose.

"Yeah, what is that Kunai?" Kiba asked the team leader suspiciously.

"Kakashi…?" Guy asked. "What did you just smell…?"

Kakashi Hatake turned to face his teammates with a grim expression. He had never, ever, not in a million years for him to appear there of all places. He should have thought of the possibility, of course, he was Gaara's first friend…but why…? Why go after the Akatsuki…and alone! It was a situation that- under any possibility- couldn't go well!

"It seems that we are not the only ones that are looking for the Kazekage." Kakashi said, worried about the son of his teacher…he hoped Naruto was all right wherever he was…

_Later on, South of the Land of Rivers…_

Naruto woke up sweating. He breathed hard as he looked around him. Where…was he?

He was lying in a bed, inside a small room. Naruto wasn't wearing his shirt or his cloak and both his arms, his hands and his knee were completely bandaged.

He got off the bed and noticed that he hadn't moved his body for quite some time. The Uzumaki looked around the room before he spotted the Yamato, laying on the room's corner. He walked towards it before unsheathing it just enough so a small part of the metal blade appeared. It was clean out of blood and someone had sharpened it. "So you finally got up…"

Naruto automatically unsheathed the Yamato and pointed it towards the female voice. The woman jumped back, scared. She had black hair and was older than him, maybe twenty years old…? She wore a white dress and had green eyes. "Umm…I'm sorry…" Naruto apologized for his reflex sheating the blade back to its scabbard. "Its just…"

The woman looked at the boy and couldn't help herself but to giggle. Her father had thought he was a dangerous Missing Nin and that she shouldn't bring him in because if she did he would wake up and attack her. She didn't hear him, she wouldn't deny help to a dying boy…

"I understand. It was because I scared you." She said with a kind smile.

"Scared me?! No…I mean…ok, just a bit." Naruto finally admitted.

"So…what is your name?" The woman asked him.

At first Naruto was hesitant to answer. That woman could be a cover from the Akatsuki…but if that was so why did she save him? Well, the Akatsuki did want him alive. In the end he decided to trust her against his better judgment…

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Yours?"

"Shigeku Honoto." Shigeku said shaking Naruto's hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"So…Shigeku…" Naruto said as he looked out of the window to see a peaceful small village. "Where am I?"

"You're in Kaseryūryō." She said. "It's a village located in the far south of the Land of Rivers. Anyway, where did you come from? We found you floating in the Teshio River with wounds all over your body. "

The Tenshio River…Naruto had once read that the Tenshio River was the main river in the Land of River, it connected to various smaller rivers, that must have been from where he had come from… the wounds in his body must have been from his two previous fights…

"C'mon!" Shigeku called him pulling him by his arm before he could finish his line of thoughts. She apparently had forgotten about her previous question… "We need to get your clothes!"

Naruto was dragged by the woman through a set of stairs to what appeared to be a small Inn. People looked at him strangely, probably wondering what the hell was a shinobi with no allegiance to a hidden village doing there.

Naruto and Shigeku walked to a counter where a black haired man, a bit taller than Naruto was sitting on a chair while reading a small book.

"Father! This is the boy that we found on the river, remember?" Shigeku pulled Naruto so he was in front of her. The Uzumaki gave him a nervous greet. In response the man only grumbled something under his breath before going bak to the book he was reading.

"I told you not to bring him here, Shigeku…" The man said.

"But…father…he was drowning, what did you want me to do?"

"How should I know? What I know is that you shouldn't have brought him here. Now stop bothering me! "He finally said before going back to his reading.

It was then that Naruto realized that the book the man was reading was a small red book with a woman kicking a guy in the face. The top of the book read "Icha Icha Violence".

"Eww!" Naruto let out, causing both the man and his daughter to look at him. "You read those perverted ass books?"

""Perverted Ass Books"?!" The man shouted, getting up. "How dare you?! This books are a piece of art! Not like an ignorant youngster like you would understand!"

"ITS PORN!" Naruto shouted.

"THE CORRECT TERM IS EROTIC ROMANCE!" The man answered.

"Calm down you guys!" Shigeku shouted. "Here, Naruto. Your clothes." She said handing Naruto his clothes. "Also, take this." The woman handed him a green box. "You should be hungry."

It was true, he hadn't eaten for so much time…"Thank you." Naruto said before he got dressed in his T shirt and Mesh Armor. He then opened the box to see a few Bentos in it. He took a bite of one as he saw the daughter scream with the father.

"And you, Father! The boy has been asleep for two days , he waked up and the first thing he has to hear is you shouting at him?! That is so insensitive of your part!"

Wait, had she said…SHIT! Naruto dropped the bento and grabbed his cloak, calling the attention of both Shigeku and her father.

"Naruto, what are you-" Before she could answer Naruto placed his finger in a specific place of his cloak. With a small poof various Ryo notes appeared on his hand.

"Here. This should be more than enough to pay my room and what I ate." He threw the Ryo on the balcony and grabbed the bento box before walking towards the door. "Thank you and goodbye."

"Wait, Naruto!" Shigeku ran towards him and grabbed his arm. "Did we say something? What…what happened?"

"Im sorry, Shigeku…I have things to do, it's a matter of life and death."

The woman nooded as her father watched it from behind the balony. Naruto walked out of the inn and did a one handed hand seal before disappearing in a body flicker.

"So…I guess that's that." Shigeku's father said before going back to his perverted reading.

_Minutes later, not far away…_

Naruto ran through the woods with his sword in hand. Two days…was Gaara dead?

He didn't know. How could he know?

As his line of thoughts made his way into his head he felt being suked in before he meet face to face with his very own Inner Demon once again.

"So you are still doing this…" The Kyuubi said behind the bars that were trapping him. "You are still going after the Akatsuki even though their very objective is to hunt you down…"

"You again…well, what do you think?! My friend is in danger, If I do nothing…" He didn't dare to complete that sentence.

"I know, after pondering about it for a long time I finally realized it…" The Kyuubi stood up and meet gazes with Naruto. "When our father died he gave me more power than the others…the reason he did this was because I was meant to be the Bijuu's leader, and we were meant to protect this world…and even tough humanity hunted us down for power this mission he gave us has never quite ended. And I guess that protecting this world includes protecting each other, which is why I'll collaborate."

"Wow…Kyuubi… I never expected you to…"

"I don't honestly like you, but if you are trying to protect one of my brothers…" The Kyuubi smiled at Naruto. "I can't help but to sympathize with you. So just know that if you end up fighting a strong opponent from the Akatsuki you can count on me to back you up, but only opponents of the Akatsuki, no one else."

"Ok, ok…but how can I even know if-"

"Don't worry about him; your friend is fine…" The Kyuubi told him.

"How can you- Oh, yeah, Bijuu connections…"

Naruto went back to the real world in time to land on the next tree branch. So that was out of the way. Nonetheless, it had been three days since the Kazekage's kidnapping had happened, the Akatsuki was most certainly trying to remove the Shukaku no Ichibi from his body. If they succeeded…no! They wouldn't succeed! He…he wouldn't let them succeed.

Not even if it coasted his life.

_Meanwhile, the Akatsuki hideout…_

Silence was once again predominant in the Akatsuki hideout, ever since Itachi had arrived bak it had been mostly quiet there with a few interventions coming from Deidara, Hidan or Kakuzu followed by the leader demanding silence. This time, however, was different.

"My leader…it appears we have an intruder…" Zetsu said.

"So he returned then…no matter, the ritual is neatly ending. The barrier will hold him down long enough." The leader declared. There was not much else they could do…after all, the bodies were gone and Deidara had no explosive clay left to fight, all that the eight Akatsuki could do was to continue the ritual and to pray they weren't discovered

_Minutes late, outside the Akatsuki hideout…_

Naruto landed on the ground next to a small lake. Something that called his attention immediately was that the lake was located next to a mountain, and in front of the mountain there was, behind a gigantic red Torii Gate, a rock with a paper seal in it. The Uzumaki closed his eyes for a second. He could feel…there were nine chakra signatures, coming from inside the mountain. The signatures were weak, he could barely feel it. If it wasn't for his sense of smell he wouldn't be certain the Akatsuki were there…

Naruto unsheathed his sword and positioned himself. A white aura took his blade before he slashed towards the rock, causing a beam to come out of the Yamato and fly towards it. As soon as the slash shaped beam touched the rock it…disappeared?

"What…?" Naruto wasn't sure what had happened until he felt the chakra that had ben released by his sword being sucked into the paper seal.

Well, that explained a lot.

Naruto walked towards the rock and placed his hand atop the seal. As he suspected, the seal absorbed his chakra and like any decent seal it couldn't be removed from the rock. But if his Uzumaki knowledge was right, there was a special weakness to this specific type of seal.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, he could feel four distant, but similar chakra signatures. So his theory was right, the seal was split in four.

With that Naruto made six shadow clones, all had about 10% of his chakra. In those three years he was glad he was able to control the amount of chakra he placed in those clones, it did a hell lot of saving.

"You know what to do." Naruto said. At that the six clones nodded. Four went off to different directions, one walked with the original towards the lake's shore and the last stayed next to the rock, ready to remove the seal.

Naruto waited five minutes until he thought it had been enough. He used the clone next to him to make a Rasengan larger than normal. He couldn't make a Giant Rasengan alone yet. Every time he tried the chakra exploded in his hand and caused some injuries to his chakra network.

Naruto dismissed the clone once he had made the Rasengan and let its memories flow into the other clones.

_Meanwhile…_

Upon receiving the signal the five clones simultaneously ripped off their respective seals and disappeared in several poofs of smoke.

None of the four clones that had dashed off noticed that by ripping off the seal they had activated a hidden trap made especially for those who were foolish enough to try to infiltrate the Akatsuki hideout…

_Meanwhile, In front of the Akatsuki hideout…_

Naruto took a deep breath, it was now or never he dashed towards the rock blocking the Hideout's entrance and landed his Giant Rasengan with full force in it.

The full force of the spiraling sphere broke the rock immediately with an explosion, causing the morning daylight to enter the dark cave.

The eight Akatsuki members looked as a boy with a black cloak walked it with his Katana sword in hand.

"Uzumaki…Naruto…" The leader said upon the blonde's entrance.

Naruto raised his head and looked at the nine members with fiery red eyes before looking down at his friends body, floating in the air with a blue aura around it.. "Give…GAARA…BACK!" With the last word, Naruto slashed the Yamato towards the Statue the members were standing in. A Razor Wind flew, cutting through the eight sealing dragons and flying towards the Statue.

One second before the attack hit Deidara jumped off the statue and landed on the ceiling while the leader made a fast handseal, dismissing the statue and the other members. Of course that didn't calm down Naruto.

Deidara dashed towards the hideout's entrance and jumped off to land on top of the Torii Gate before throwing five small birds made of clay towards Naruto. The Blonde Akatsuki made a handseal and a poof of smoke surrounded the birds before they dashed like torpado missels towards Naruto.

In response, Naruto touched the seal in his arm to summon a single shuriken. The boy threw it with wind chakra before making a series of hand seals. The shuriken multiplied itself by five and met with the birds, causing five explosions to happen midair.

"You're good, hmmm…"Deidara commented before noticing something moving behind Naruto."Would you look at that…your friend woke up!"

Naruto turned to Gaara, surprised to see the Kazekage on his feet. The red in his eyes turned back to blue and the surprised look into a smile. "Gaara!"

The Kazekage didn't answer; instead the sand in his gourd started rotating around him before overing his right arm into a shape Naruto unfortunately recognized.

"OH SHIT HE'S-" Before the blonde Jinchuuriki could finish his sentence something made of sand punched him, throwing the boy out of the hideout and into the lake.

"Uzumaki…Narutooooooo…" Gaara's voice said seconds before a wave of sand shuriken flew towards Deidara.

The Akatsuki was surprised by this but managed to jump off the Torii gate before producing a giant clay bird midair and flying off.

Whatever that was…Deidara didn't want to meet it…

Naruto got up, standing in the water before he saw Gaara come out of the hideout.

His right arm was consumed by sand, forming the arm of something…definitively not human. The sand arm had blue markings that extended towards Gaara's face. Another thing that was off was the Jinchuuriki's right eye…it was black with a yellow iris.

"Uzumaki Naruto…I have waited long for this moment…" The Shukaku said.

**Author's Note: So yeah, end of chapter. The Review Challenge is still up and i still need someone who can draw Naruto...another thing: The first arc is almost ending, it will last two more chapters if i am right...so, im a bit in a hurry now, im sorry if this Author''s Note was short, let us finish this with the question of the day...**

**QOTD: What should be Naruto's third Ellement?**

**And i really hope you guys answer this quickly, i will need it soon...**


	12. Shukaku Unleashed

Strangely enough none of Naruto Uzumaki's enemies held a personal grudge against him. The Akatsuki was just after his Bijuu. Orochimaru hated all who came from the leaf and intervened with his plan. Sasuke just wanted revenge. Yes, none of Naruto Uzumaki's enemies held a personal grudge against him…

That is, except one.

The Shukaku no Ichibi hated him with a sick, burning passion…if it wasn't for the boy three years ago he would have managed to destroy the leaf and continuing controlling Gaara, killing people…But this boy had to come and ruin everything!

Now Gaara suppressed him, the Shukaku no longer had the influence he had on the boy and for that Naruto Uzumaki would pay…

"You…" Naruto said, entering his battle stance. "You are Gaara's Bijuu…Shukaku, the one tailed demon…"

"So you remember me! How kind of you…" The Demon said with Gaara's voice.

"Of course I do…" Naruto said, remembering the night he had discovered of the demon's existence.

_Three years ago, Konoha hospital…_

"Im going to kill him because I want him dead." Gaara said, explaining his reasoning to try and kill Rock Lee in the middle of the night.

Luckily enough, Naruto and Shikamaru had arrived just in time to stop him.

"That's the most selfish thing I've ever heard!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at the Sand Nin

"You grew up in a bad environment, didn't you…?" Shikamaru lazily asked. "You're really egocentric..."

Naruto couldn't believe this guy…how could he kill someone like that? So naturally? And for such a motive…it was just plain wrong! Really wrong! It made Naruto want to punch that psychopath's ugly ass face!

"If you bother me I will kill you too." Gaara warned. The way he said it made it seem like it was the most natural thing in the world…

"You think you can?! Then try it!" Naruto shouted shaking his fist at Gaara.

"Cut it out, Naruto!" Shikamaru whispered to his friend. Naruto noticed that he had something in mind…"We know you are strong. We saw your match with him." He said referring to the unconscious Lee. "But we didn't show our strongest moves at the preliminaries. And don't forget we're two versus one here. You're at disadvantage. If you listen to us we can let you go. "

The words, however seemed not to reach Gaara. "I will warn you one last time: If you bother me I will kill you!"

"Like you can…" Naruto cockily said.

"I told you to stop bothering this guy!" Shikamaru shouted. "He's as strong as a demon!"

Naruto smiled at his friend's choice of words. "A demon…? Well, he may seem like one, but I have the real thing inside me!"

"A Demon, huh?" Gaara asked, closing his eyes. "In this case we are the same…" Shikamaru and Naruto both gasped at the Shinobi's choice of words. "As you said, I did not grow up in a nice environment. I took the life of the woman who was called my mother when I was born. To become the ultimate shinobi, my father used a technique that binds the incarnation of sand itself to me… It is called Shukaku, a demon sealed in a teakettle…I was born a monster."

_Back to the present…_

That was the day Naruto realized how much in common him and Gaara had…they were alone in the beginning, but Gaara had never had any friends or even people who cared for him. He was alone…

That is why he had to win this fight…but first he needed some sort of info on his enemy… he had to gain time, even if it was just a few seconds…

Naruto dashed at his enemy with a Rasengan in hand. He tried to use it on the Shukaku but the Tanuki backslapped him and threw him high onto the air before making a series of hand seals with his left hand.

"Wind Style: Air Bomb Explosion!" On the Shukaku's sand hand a sphere of wind three times bigger than Naruto's Rasengan appeared in his hand. "Take this, Uzumaki Narutoooo!" The Demon threw the sphere at Naruto, in response the boy spun midair and made two hand seals.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Naruto launched a fireball towards the Air Bomb. Both attacks clashed, resulting in an enormous explosion of fire and wind that threw Naruto back and forced the Shukaku to use a shield to block the attack.

As soon as the shield the Shukaku raised was dismissed he saw a sight he didn't quite expect. "So that's' how it's gonna be, huh?"

Standing in front of him where two hundred Naruto clones, all of them had less than one percent of Naruto's chakra.

"Ok then…" The demon said as sand took over his left arm as well to create a miniature of his true form. "LET'S SEE WHAT YOU GOT!" The Shukaku dashed towards the small army.

Little did he know that the real Naruto was hidden atop the Torii gate. He had to do this, fast, the Shukaku would soon discover where the real him was.

He sat in a meditating position and closed his eyes. As soon as he opened them he was standing in front of the Nine Tails.

"You returned earlier than I expected, kit…what is it? Having problems with my little brother?"

Naruto gave a death stare at the fox for his playing attitude but didn't say anything. "I need some info on the one tail."

The fox smirked at him. "Is that so? What'd you exactly want to know, kit?"

"His Jinchūriki form…it's different. I read that all the hosts went through the Bijuu transformation sequence: First the initial chakra mode, then the cloak and so on…but…he is different, there isn't any chakra cloak, the Shukaku just possessed Gaara. But as far as I know that is only supposed to happen when the demon totally takes over, right?"

The Kyuubi looked curiously at the boy, the many books he had found in that hideout had actually given him knowledge of the world…

"That is true…except for the Shukaku." The fox told him. "He is different…well; he used to be like any other Bijuu. But when father passed away he went crazy and destroyed cities. Father's successor tried to talk to him but he had gone way too far…he attacked him. Poor Arashi…he was a good man and it hurt him to do so, but he destroyed Shukaku's body and sealed his soul away in a teakettle."

"His…body was destroyed…?" Naruto asked the fox.

"Yes, that is why the Shukaku may only live with a Jinchūriki. He controls the sand to make himself an artificial body… He also can't break free of his Jinchūriki, but he may control its body."

"I see. That's why-"

"FOUND YOU!" Naruto's talk with the Kyuubi was interrupted by the Shukaku grabbing him with his sand hand before throwing him towards the water.

Naruto felt like a skipping stone as he was thrown towards the lake's shore. He got up with difficulty to see the Shukaku jumping back into the Akatsuki hideout.

"Well, well…Uzumaki Naruto…It seems it's time to begin the real battle…" The sand demon said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Asked Naruto while getting back up.

In response to his question the Shukaku began to laugh maniacally before raising his two arms towards the sky.

In response to this gesture the ground behind him began to crack, sand began to come out of the cracks.

Well, shit.

The ground in the Akatsuki Hideout exploded, Sand now covering the place and braking the cave's roof to flow free through the sky. The demon Shukaku smiled at Naruto one last time before entering the cave and becoming one with the sand.

Naruto wondered at first what was he planning, but then the sand began to take form, the form of a familiar tailed beast.

A gigantic paw landed at Naruto's side as the true form of the Shukaku now stood tall. "I AM BACK, BABY!"

_Minutes later, not far away…_

Kakashi was running through a forest of the land of rivers accompanied by his team. Kiba had followed Naruto's smell and this had led them there. They were sure that this was the right place, why else would Naruto be there.

Naruto…

Kakashi had lost so many people, teammates, students, teachers, parenst…and Naruto was one of them. His case was different from most tough, he hadn't passed away or decided to leave the village…no, he had been exiled.

How could they have exiled the 4th Hokage's son?! Even though Naruto didn't know of his legacy, the elders did. They had betrayed the 4th's memories by banishing his living legacy, the one the man had died for. This whole situation made Kakashi wonder what his Sensei and Kushina would have said if they were still alive…

His line of thoughts were interrupted as he felt a strong and dark chakra. "Neji! What was that?!" Kakashi asked his team member.

Neji activated his Dojutsu before sating. "There is something there, Kakashi Sensei… it looks like a giant sand monster!" At this affirmation Kakashi shuddered. The Shukaku no Ichibi had been released, but that was not the part that most amazed the copy ninja. "And…it's not alone…someone is trying to fight it off!"

Someone was trying to fight a Bijuu off?! Who on its right mind would defy one of the nine strongest being in the five nations?!

His question would soon be answered as Hinata (Who also had her Byakugan active…) gasped, surprised. "But that's'…"

Neji's eyes also widened as he got a clear look on who was the one fighting the giant sand monster.

"It's Naruto!"

_Meanwhile, back to the battle…_

Naruto had managed to move the Shukaku away from the Akatsuki hideout. He felt better fighting at the forest. The Uzumaki hided and tried to find a way to beat the Bijuu, quickly remembering of how he woke Gaara up last time. If he was to defeat the beast he had to go for the Kazekage…

"Alright…" Naruto said as his two other clones jumped high in the air and entered what Naruto liked to call, the "Narutorpedo" formation. "NOW!" Naruto was thrown by the original clone's kick high onto the air, taking a second impulse at the other clone's back.

"FOUND YOU, NARUTO UZUMAKII!" The Shukaku shouted as soon as he saw the Jinchūriki diving towards him .

"DAMN RIGHT YOU DID! MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Naruto shouted while making the necessary hand seal, fifty clones appeared next to him with small poofs of smoke.

All clones and the original Naruto made a Rasengan Barrage in both their hands.

"RASENGAN SUPER BARRAGE!" All the clones shouted in unison as the various Rasengan clashed against the arm Shukaku had used to block the massive attack.

"OUCH! YOU BASTARD!" The Shukaku shouted as the original Naruto dived towards the Shukaku's head, leaving the now destroyed arm and the fifty clones behind. Fair enough, there was Gaara; sleeping…he had to get closer.

Naruto made one more Shadow Clone as the sand in the Shukaku's head took the form of small spheres and flew towards the original Naruto and his clone.

Naruto and his clone then proceed to make one Rasengan each before clashing the two spheres.

The explosion that followed next threw the original out of the various sand projectiles and towards the back of the Shukaku's head.

Naruto spun his body midair and upon landing he placed chakra on his feet so the sand wouldn't consume him before body flickering right behind Gaara and trying a punch in the sleeping Jinchūriki.

Right before his punch landed, sand rose on Gaara's defense, changing the punch's trajectory so it would land centimeters from Gaara. "Shit…"Naruto said as the sand that had gotten his punch transformed into a miniature Shukaku arm and grabbed him, lifting the Uzumaki high on the air before throwing him down on the ground.

As sand started to consume Naruto, the boy made three fast hand seals and clapped his hands. A air armor formed around him, throwing the sand that was previously consuming him back. Naruto then released the armor, causing it to expand and throw the sand further back.

The Jinchūriki then made a clone that grabbed him by the arm and threw him towards Gaara. Naruto flew high and was falling off the Shukaku's head, but he made yet another clone to correct his trajectory. The clone grabbed him by the arm and spun before throwing him towards the sleeping Kazekage with the Yamato's hilt in hand.

Naruto landed In front of Gaara and unsheathed the Yamato before striking Gaara with the hilt in his forehead.

For some seconds nothing happened, but then a small crack appeared on Gaara's forehead and spread to his whole body before the sand armor broke, revealing…nothing?

Now to say Naruto was confused was an understatement. When he struck Gaara all he found was sand, nothing else. Before he could pounder much about it a smaller version of Shukaku's hand made of sand came out of the ground Naruto was standing, the boy was thrown towards the ground but midway he heard a loud voice shouting at him.

"THERE YOU ARE, UZUMAKI NARUTO!" The sand Bijuu shouted before preparing to slap Naruto with the back of his real hand. Naruto's reflexes instantly came in and his hands moved automatically, performing three handseals before clapping his hands together.

The Air Armor formed itself one second before the Shukaku hit him. The impact was strong enough to throw Naruto across the forest, destroying some trees with the wind armor as he was thrown back. Right before hitting the ground Naruto released the armor, causing the impact to throw him skywards before he felt with his back on the ground.

He had landed on an open area, with a small river not far behind him. That was the Land of rivers after all…

As he fell down the Shukaku laughed like a madman. "HAHAHAHA! YOU WERE FUN TO FIGHT WITH, UZUMAKI NARUTO…BUT ITS TIME TO END YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL!" The Demon said as he pointed his recently regenerated arm towards Naruto.

As he did that, a good amount of sand came out of his back and flew faster than Naruto expected sand to fly towards him. The young Uzumaki tried to do a hand seal but felt a strong pain in his right shoulder and the inability to move his arm.

"Shit…" His shoulder had dislocated itself on the fall. He put his hand atop the dislocated member before looking up and seeing the sand Shukaku had sent after him about to crash down atop him.

Naruto closed his eyes and flinched but the sand never hit. Instead he heard a slightly familiar voice shouting behind him. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

Naruto opened his eyes once again in time to see a water dragon clashing against the sand, pushing it back. As soon as the sand was completely pushed back Naruto looked back to see two man that he had been too busy to sense coming standing atop the river, the two were very familiar, more familiar than Naruto would like them to be.

"Yoh there, Naruto!" Kakashi greeted him with a friendly eye-smile. "Sorry I am late, I got lost on the path of life."

_Meanwhile, in front of the Akatsuki Hideout…_

Lee stood in his taijutsu stance in front of one of the Naruto clones, the clone calmly kept his hand atop his Katana and looked at Lee with no emotion in his eyes.

"I have been waiting for a rematch ever since we last meet, Naruto- Kun. Ever since we last meet I have been Itching for another chance to trade blows with such a worthy opponent, even if you are not really him you will have to do!" The Chūnin told the clone, remembering how he got to fight the copy.

_2 Minutes earlier…_

The team had just arrived in front of the Akatsuki hideout. Kakashi thanked the hounds before dismissing them and walking in front of the team to take a look on the destroyed hideout.

"Well, it seems like that monster managed to destroy the hideout…" Kakashi commented. "There is nothing left here, lets join in with Naruto to fight off the monster."

"Wait, what is that?!" Kiba shouted, pointing to the top of the Torii gate. On top of it was standing a shady figure, which jumped of the top of the structure and landed on the lake, revealing himself to be Naruto.

"Naruto Kun…?" Hinata asked the boy. In response, Naruto only unsheathed his blade without a word before doing a one handed seal and slashing at the air, creating a white beam that flew towards the team of eight.

"Scatter!" Kakashi shouted as all of the team members went to their different directions.

Guy in special reappeared behind Naruto ready to attack. "Konoha-" The Taijutsu specialist was interrupted as he had to dodge something that was falling on top of him. As it hit the lake, the unknown object exploded, raising water high on the air before it got up revealing to be yet another Naruto.

"Is it a Shadow Clone?" Sakura asked, materializing some meters from the two Narutos. AS she asked that two more clones fell from the Torii gate, landing next to the two other.

"No…they're different…" Neji affirmed with Byakugan activated as he landed in a circle formation around the four clones.

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked.

"They are made from different materials…" Hinata confirmed with her byakugan activated as well. "Water, Grass, Mud and Earth more specifically."

"It looks like the Akatsuki left a trap behind…" Kakashi said, pulling a kunai from his weapons' pocket. "Let's finish them and then aid Naruto."

"Kakashi, wait." Guy said. "Me and my team are more than capable of handling these doppelgangers, you and your team go ahead, we'll reach you soon enough."

"And not giving me a chance to fight?! No way in hell!" Kiba shouted as Akamaru barked.

"Fine then, Kiba! You can take my Doppelgänger on for me; I will go with Kakashi instead. "

"Ok, then any more protests?" Kakashi asked and nobody spoke a word. "Fine then, let's go team!" The copy ninja dashed off, followed by the rest of his team.

"Be careful Neji Oniisan!" Hinata shouted before following.

"Do not worry, Hinata Sama…" The Hyūga said. "I will be fine."

As soon as the Kakashi half of the team was gone the clones looked at one another and seemed to reach an agreement. They all jumped back and ran atop the Torii gate before each one of them jumped off to a different direction. One jumped towards North, other east and finally south. Only one clone stayed atop the Torii gate.

"Lee, take care of the clone that stayed here, Tenten east, Kiba north, I will go after the south one." Neji commented before the three ninja dashed off after their assigned enemy. After making sure they were really gone the Naruto doppelganger jumped off the Torii gate and landed in front of Lee as the boy took on his taijutsu stance.

_Present…_

"I will have to end this fast so please don't think badly of me for doing so…" Lee said as he untied both his arms' bandages. He took a deep breath before disappearing and repairing right under the cloned Naruto and landing a kick on his chin, throwing him back high onto the air.

Lee then changed positions before reappearing again right behind the doopleganger. "Leaf Shadow dance…" Lee whispered at his enemy's ear. His bandages then began to wrap around the doppelganger's body while he made three fast hand seals. "Now! Primary-" Lee was interrupted as his enemy's body was suddenly covered by an exploding sphere of wind, throwing the Chūnin against the lake's water.

Naruto then landed on the lake, followed by Lee coming out of the water breathing hard. "I see…you are better than I expected. Fine then." The taijutsu user said as he removed the two weights in his leg before dropping them in the water, causing them to hit the river bottom with a small quake. "I will not hold back against you any longer! I will defeat you so I can help my friends!" Lee shouted before dashing at the doppelganger at full speed.

_Meanwhile, nearby…_

Naruto looked at Guy and Kakashi, wondering what the leaf ninja were doing there before realizing they were probably after Gaara, it was natural that the sand required them to do that. Their alliance had been done for a reason.

The Uzumaki was about to give Kakashi some advices along the lines of "get the fuck out of here and let me handle my own battles" but before he could say it something else caught his attention.

At the other side of the river Kakashi was standing two girls landed. The first had pink hair and a red dress…but she wasn't the one that caught his attention.

"You!" Naruto shouted as he caught up, he had a hand against his arm, stopping it from moving so It didn't hurt. "What are you doing here?!"

At first Kakashi thought he was talking to him, but was soon proven wrong as he passed right thorugh him and Kakashi and towards the girls. Of course, Naruto liked Sakura…but wait…no, when they met Naruto had gone as far as to punch her so why…?

His question was answered as Naruto pushed the pink haired girl aside and went towards Hinata.

"You heard me. What are you doing here?" Naruto asked her.

"We are here to help you rescue with the monster, Naruto Kun…"

"Yeah, but…" Naruto sighed. There were a limited number of people that if by chance crossed ways with him, he wouldn't act like a total dick. Hinata was one of his people, so was Gaara, they were his precious people.

But Hinata…Hinata was different, he was somehow protective of her…it made sense. If someone that grew up alone, with no parents and no friends got a love confession he would not want the one who loved him be in danger.

"Umm, Naruto…we've got more important prob-"

"Oh, go back to reading porn or something, Kakashi!" Naruto shouted at his ex-sensei.

"The right term Erotic Novel…" The Copy Ninja grumbled under his breath.

As Naruto turned to face Hinata once again he flinched in pain because of his shoulder. " Naruto Kun, are you ok?" She asked him.

"Oh, it's nothing Hina-" Before he could finish Hinata activated her Byakugan.

"You've got a dislocated shoulder…I think I can fix that." She told him.

"And how are you planning on doing-" Before he could finish Hinata Gentle Fisted his shoulder into place. "OWW…Oh, it's better…" He said, moving his arm. "Thanks Hinata."

"Naruto, since we have common interests wouldn't it make sense for us to take the Shukaku on together?" Kakashi asked, making Naruto turn towards him.

The boy considered it for a moment. He was right, besides, Naruto couldn't take care of a Bijuu alone…and Hinata was there. If he collaborated with the Konoha shinobi he could spend more time with one of his precious people.

"Fine." Naruto said, unsheathing the Yamato and walking towards Guy and Kakashi. "You two stay out of this." He told the girls. Sakura looked like she would protest, but fortunately didn't.

"Alright, Naruto!" Guy said. "Let us show this demon the true power of youth!"

"Yeah…no." Naruto replied.

And so the three man team stood together. Guy, Kakashi and Naruto, all ready to take on the demon of the sand Shukaku.

"BROUGHT YOUR FRIENDS?! GOOD! THE MORE THE MERRIER" The Shukaku shouted at Naruto and his two temporary allies.

"Ok, then…" Naruto told the Jounin. "Let's do this!".

**Author's Note: Guess whose fanfic got over one hundred followers? That's right!**

**I want to thank you guys for the support and now aim to get over 100 reviews and favorites. **

**So yeah, I've got someone to do my fanart, so if everything goes right, next week there will be 2 chapters. **

**Now this chapter…it covered a part of the Naruto VS Shukaku fight and Kakashi and Guy joined in. Next chapter may be shorter but not much.**

**In this chapter (The longest one so far) I also gave quite the hint on something that will be explored further on…let's see who discovers it.**

**A little comment on the SasukeHater review: I won't kill Sasuke. I like Sasuke. I like every one of Kishi's characters and even if I did hate a certain character, I don't think Id bash it in my fanfic.**

**Penultimate: I made a pool for Naruto's 3d element, visit my profile and vote on it, it will end next week so hurry!**

**Finally, the Question of the Day, commemorating the return of Naruhina I ask of you…**

**QOTD: What other pairing(or pairings) should I add on this fanfiction?**

**Before answering note that:**

**-Naruto and Hinata belong to each other here, so no other Naruto or Hinata pairings.**

**-I don't do harems.**


	13. Naruto's Trump Card

Neji ran after his doppelganger, jumping from tree to tree, trying to reach him. "Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" He shouted once again, punching the air with his open palm, launching wave of chakra towards the clone, who easily dodged by jumping back, high above Neji.

He landed in a branch behind Neji already making hand seals before blowing a fireball at the Jounin. Neji easily countered Naruto's fireball with another air palm. One jutsu dismissed another and both Shinobi dashed at each other, clashing sword and kunai before falling down on the forest ground.

"Finally…Let's finish this, doopleganger"Neji said, entering his taijutsu stance and activating his Dojutsu. Hyuga

Meanwhile, not far…

Tenten had just landed near a river. Damn it…she had lost him... or at least that was what she thought before a series of shuriken flying towards her out of nowhere. Seeing that she quickly took a hold of one of her scrolls and opened it. Out of the scroll various kunai came out, clashing and canceling out the shuriken.

"Found you…" She said as a Naruto clone landed seven meters away from her. "This time we'll see who's the better when it comes to weapons…" She said, summoning her two tonfa into her hands. Naruto replied by unsheathing his sword and entering his stance. Both Shinobi dashed at each other ready to clash.

Meanwhile, not far from there…

Kiba backfliped and threw two kunai at the doppelganger, who easily blocked them with his sword before dashing at the Inuzuka.

"Akamaru! Now!" He shouted to his hound, Akamaru dashed at the Uzumaki using the Tunneling Fang to throw Naruto back.

Kiba dashed at the enemy ready to punch him, but the doppelganger landed on his feet, dropped down his katana and entering his taijutsu stance, he defended most of Kiba's attacks before landing a kick on the Boy's chest, throwing him against a nearby rock.

"Damn…you're good…" He said, before getting back up. "But I'm still gonna win this!" Kiba shouted before dashing against his opponent.

Meanwhile, nearby…

There they were the three man team, Kakashi, Guy and Naruto ready to take on a Tailed Beast In a suicide mission.

Hinata feared, not only for the boy she had feelings for but also for her two teachers. Fighting that monster, the one Kakashi had called "Shukaku", certainly couldn't end up well.

Hinata decided that even though Naruto had told her to step back she would help somehow.

"Byakugan…" The Hyūga whispered, activating said Dojutsu only for her eyes to widen as she saw it.

"Hinata? What's wrong?" Sakura asked after seeing her friend gasp with her Byakugan activated.

"I've got to tell Naruto…" The Hyūga said before dashing towards the three man team.

"Hinata, wait!" Sakura shouted before running after the Hyūga.

But before they could reach the Jounins and Naruto, A wave of sand crashed upon them, forcing them to separate. Guy went left, Kakashi right, Naruto simply jumped over the wave and landed on a nearby tree before jumping to another branch and so on, the Jounins soon joined him.

"Have you got any plans, Kakashi?" Guy asked the copy ninja.

"No, I was hoping Naruto did…after all he knows the opponent better…" Kakashi answered before looking at Naruto.

"Well, you were hoping wrong." Naruto told him. "My last strategy involved using a summon that I cannot use now, otherwise the leaf would be able to track me down and hitting Gaara. The problem is I don't see Gaara anywhere…"

As if on cue, Hinata landed behind the team. "Naruto Kun! There is something I want to tell you!"

"Hinata, wait!" Sakura shouted as she landed aside her. "What happened?"

Naruto turned back to look at Hinata, now with Sakura at her side. "Hinata, I told you to stay back! Besides, now is not the time to-" Before he could say anything else a voice shouted behind him.

"AIR BULLET!" At the last second Naruto managed to jump back and pull the two girls down before the blast hit. An explosion hit the ground and reduced the nearby trees to nothing.

"HAHAHAHA! I KILLED THEM!" The Shukaku shouted in pure happiness, but was proven wrong as the dust settled only for him to see Kakashi with a mud wall in front of his team, protecting Naruto, the girls and Guy.

"That was close one…" Kakashi admitted as his mud wall fell apart in front of him.

"You can say that again." Naruto sweat dropped as he got up back again, followed by a blushing Hinata and Sakura.

"SO YOU ARE STILL ALIVE! GOOD, LETS HAVE MORE FUN!" The demon said before various lumps made of sand appeared in his arm, he then swung the member, throwing various oversized sand bullets at Naruto and company.

However, none of the bullets hit them. Instead, they seemed to be aimed at the ground in front of them. "What… is he planning?" Naruto asked to no one in particular.

Hinata simply looked at them before activating her Byakugan. "It seems like…the sand is connected to the monster by chakra…but what-" Before Hinata could continue, her eyes widened and she gasped in surprise.

Naruto and the others didn't understand her behavior until the bullets of sand rose into the air and started taking a familiar form…

The team then found themselves against a small army of twenty miniature Shukaku sand clones.

"Great…just...fucking great." Naruto commented as he entered his taijutsu stance, soon followed by other team members.

"HAHAHAHAHA! THOUGHT I HAD LET YOU INTO ALL MY TRICKS, UZUMAKI NARUTO?! FAR FROM IT!" The Shukaku laughed as the small clone army dashed at the team.

Minutes earlier, not far from there…

Lee ran around the doppelganger, causing the water around him to raise high into the air. The clone, in response entered in defensive stance with his katana above his chest in a protective manner. "Prepare yourself, because here I go!" Lee reappeared in front of the clone and aimed a punch at his face but before the attack could hit an air armor blocked the blow and threw Lee's fist back, causing him to be wide open for a second.

In this second Naruto threw a kick at the Taijutsu Specialist's chest, throwing him back against the river's shore.

When Lee got back up on his kneesthe clone was already falling on top of him, ready to strike the killing blow with his katana, the blade was surrounded by a white aura. Lee knew what would happen if he managed to stab the Chūnin with it.

"Damn it! Second Gate: Gate of Healing! Open!" Lee's gate enhanced speed managed to catch the blade between his hands a moment before it stabbed him through his heart. As his hands were cut by the wind chakra, the healing enhancement of the second gate healed them, but it wasn't enough, the blade slowly started to slip in and Lee saw no other choice.

"Third Gate: Gate of Life!" Lee's skin turned red and his eyes' pupils disappeared as the third gate's power filled his body. "HAH!" With a fast movement Lee pushed the blade back and was gone in a body flicker to reappear behind the doppelganger with one final attack ready.

"LEAF WHIRLWIND!" Lee shouted as he landed first one high kick on the enemy's face, followed by a low kick on his feet, making him fall. The Chūnin finished with one fully powered kick on the doppelganger's chest that threw him across the lake and into the cave hideout.

When the dust cleared all that Lee could see was a pile of grass lying where the clone had been. The young taijutsu master went back to normal before giving a youthful thumbs up towards nothing in particular. "YOSH! This was certainly a victory for taijutsu!" He finally shouted.

Meanwhile…

Neji attacked one of the twenty clones that the doppelganger had thrown at him with a gentle fist to the stomach, making him disappear in a poof of smoke. Three more of the clones jumped at him with their swords raised above their heads, but were all eliminated by a rotation.

Neji then used his Byakugan to search for the real fake Naruto and fair enough, he found him, hidden behind a barrier of clones. Neji took up his stance and used an Air Palm with both his hands, which destroyed the various clones blocking the way and went towards the Doopleganger.

However it was evident it wouldn't be that easy.

The fake Naruto answered his Twin Air Palms with a Razor Wind Beam and as both attacks clashed most clones in the area were destroyed in the blast radius.

Neji saw the dust that was raised by the clash and saw the opportunity of an attack. Unfortunately the doppelganger wouldn't let him off that easy as he dashed at Neji with a Wind Blade in his hand. The branch Hyūga also dashed at his enemy with a Gentle Fist aimed to finish the fight.

Both clashed and Neji got a small cut on his arm, but managed to land a full powered Gentle Fist on the Fake's chest.

At first nothing happened, but as both were thrown back after their slight meeting, both started to breathing hardly. Neji because of his effort to land that single hit, but the fake had other reasons. After a while he coughed up and fell down to the ground before transforming again into mud.

Meanwhile…

Tenten clashed her Kunai with the Doopleganger's katana and both threw each other back. "You're good…but I am better" The Weapons' Master and the Fake Jinchūriki dashed at each other, Tenten summoning two katana and clashed blades with Naruto.

She managed to push him back a bit but not more than that as Naruto counter attacked with another of those sword beams and she was forced to jump back to avoid it as the ground exploded beneath her. She threw her two swords at Naruto with lightning chakra on them but he easily dodged the desperate attack

Well, that left her no choice. She had to use the plan D. D stands for Dangerous…but the plan could also be called plan S, standing for stupid instead.

But, well…she had to try.

Tenten summoned another two Tonfa, but this version had sharp edges instead of a plain edges. The doppelganger raised his eyebrows at the weapon but said nothing…well, Tenten wasn't really sure if he could speak.

She then dashed at the fake, quietly praying he wouldn't notice. The Doppelganger stood in an offensive position with his sword and once Tenten was close enough, he brought down the blade upon her.

The girl's reflex kicked in and she managed to use one of the Tonfa to block the incoming blade and spin the other so the sharp edge was turned towards the Fake. She then stabbed him with the sharp edge, but since it wasn't really that sharp the Tonfa didn't go in that deep and didn't manage to do much damage.

The Doppelganger kicked Tenten back, luckily not noticing the Paper Bomb that had been left in the Tonfa's handle. Tenten smiled and made a fast handseals. "Boom."

The clone's eyes widened in the last second before the paper bomb exploded and took him with it. Tenten fell on her back, but she was smiling. After all, she had won.

Meanwhile…

Kiba attacked the Doppelganger with Taijutsu, but the fake easily dodged to the blows before throwing the Inuzuka's back with a punch.

Kiba landed on his feet and threw two kunai at his enemy, however Naruto easily dodged them and roundhouse kicked Kiba, causing him to fall down on the ground.

"Damn it…" Kiba let out. Akamaru had been badly wounded earlier and was incapacitated, and him without his Dog partner was as strong as a Genin.

The doppelganger was now walking towards him, he unsheathed his sword and spun it at the back of his hand, ready to finish Kiba.

But he wouldn't go down like that.

The Chūnin got back up before getting one of his specials pills out of his weapons' pocket and swallowing it down. He then proceded to dash towards the fake, preparing a punch. The doppelganger assumed a defensive stance and as Kiba was about to throw the punch at him he slashed towards the boy.

However, the Inuzuka was fast. He faked the punch, body flickered and reappeared behind the clone with a kunai, ready to stab him. But the Naruto Clone was smarter than he looked and changed the course of his slash, spinning his body so his blade would meet with Kiba's kunai

The fake started pushing Kiba back and eventually succeeded in doing so, throwing the "dog boy" down on the ground.

Naruto then resumed walking towards Kiba, his Katana spinning on the back of his hand and a smirk clear in his expression.

Kiba was done for.

That was when a white blur appeared behind the Fake and its teeth bought deep into his arm. "Akamaru!" Kiba shouted in surprise. There was his partner, despite the blood that dirtied his white fur, he was there, fighting. The fake threw the hound back and raised his blade to finish it. But if his partner wasn't giving up….- The clone brought down the Katana. – Kiba couldn't give up either!

"Tunneling Fang!" The boy shouted as he clashed against the clone's chest, one moment before his blade made contact with Akamaru. The Doppelganger tried to hold Kiba's Fang down, but the Inuzuka wasn't going to give in. The fang threw the clone against a rock and pushed him further it. Once Kiba was done all that was left of his enemy was dry earth.

"Come here, boy!" Kiba shouted to Akamaru, who responded to his partner's request and came to him. "You see this?" He asked, pointing to the pile of dry earth. "It means we won." The Chūnin said with a smile as he embraced Akamaru.

Meanwhile, nearby…

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he spit a fireball against the wave of enemies.

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" Hinata also shouted, launching a wave of fast travelling chakra towards the miniature sand raccoons.

"Lightning Beast Running Jutsu!" Kakashi finally added a hound like beast made of pure electricity ran out of his palm and into the enemy waves, joining Hinata's Air Palm and Naruto's Fireball.

The three long ranged attacks hit, exploding against the wave of enemies. However it was useless as they slowly started to reform and continued dashing at Naruto and his allies.

"Shit! They seem indestructible…" Naruto commented. The team was forced to retreat far into the forest and managed to blast the sand enemies with long ranged attacks, but it didn't seem to have any effect since they only reformed from every attack.

Sakura grabbed a kunai and added a paper bomb to it before throwing against one of the clones. It exploded as it met with the sand creature, but he already started to reform once again as the explosion faded.

"It's true…damn it…" Sakura cursed.

"We need to keep our calm, we never know what they might be capable of." Kakashi said.

Sure enough, the army of sand raccoons breathed in a ridiculous amount of air and all simultaneously spat a wave of wind against the team

"RAZOR WIND!" Naruto shouted trying to counter the wind barrage with his long ranged sword attack, however the attack didn't seem quite to work and the barrage defeated the razor wind, advancing towards the team at a dangerous rate.

"Earth Style: Twin Mud Walls" Kakashi and Sakura shouted after jumping in front of the others and making simultaneous hand seals. Two mud walls rose from the earth and took the attack for them, protecting the team, but being destroyed in the process.

Up to that point Naruto had no idea Sakura could use earth style jutsus but whatever helps…right?

Oh, who was he kidding…? The situation was grim. If that continued he would have to use "that jutsu". He could use it since he had a team to guard him while he was forming it, but he had to use it on the Shukaku, otherwise it would be a wasted on the Tailed Beast's smaller clones and he wouldn't have anything to defeat papa raccoon.

Shit, that was going to be difficult.

Amidst his thoughts Naruto almost didn't notice the Shukaku clone coming out of the ground behind Sakura and Hinata with a Wind Bomb In his hand.

Almost.

In a body flicker the Yamato was slashing through the sand raccoon's torax, surprising both Sakura and Hinata. The Mini Shukaku's eyes widened and his wind bomb disappeared as he fell down to the ground and turned into sand.

Despite the Kyuubi saying it was useless because he already had a sense of smell Naruto had never regretted on developing his chakra sensing abilities.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" Naruto asked, not really caring about Sakura.

"Umm…yes…thank you, Naruto Kun." Hinata said.

"Naruto…what did you do…?" Kakashi asked him, surprise evident in the Copy Ninja's face.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, not really knowing what the Jounin was talking about.

Kakashi then pointed his finger at the sand clone's remnants behind the Jinchūriki. The boy looked at it for some seconds, not really understanding. "What is wrong? It's just-" His eyes widened. "…sand…"

The monster wasn't reforming. What the hell had he done different? Did he hit the Shukaku clone in a specific spot? No…that couldn't be it…maybe…

"You guys stay back." Naruto said as he walked towards the small army. "I wanna try something out…"

"Naruto, what are you gonna-" Before Kakashi could finish the Uzumaki dashed towards one of the Mini Shukaku Clones.

The Sand Clone formed a Wind Bomb in its hand and threw it at Naruto, who simply sidestepped the attack before jumping high in the air. The Shukaku Clone tried to attack him with his sand claw but Naruto dodged again and landed on top of its arm, using chakra on his feet so the sand wouldn't consume him.

He then slashed the creature's arm out before jumping over its head and landing behind it with a Razor Wind already formed in his blade. Naruto turned and slashed at the Sand Clone's back, cutting it in half and destroying him completely.

The boy smiled at his theory, which fortunately had just been proven right. It was his sword that was able to destroy the Sand Clones, he didn't know why. But it didn't really matter. It was killing time!

One massacre later…

The last Sand Clone was thrown into open area by Naruto's Air Armor's explosion. This naturally surprised the Shukaku, but the demon said nothing. The Sand Clone started reforming but before his body could develop fully, a certain Jinchūriki landed with his blade through the creature's head, destroying it.

Naruto smirked and pointed his sword at the Shukaku. "YOU'RE NEXT!" He shouted.

The Shukaku examined the blade and his eyes widened. The boy…was wielding "his" blade…how… how did he get it? Where?! No…that didn't matter…he couldn't let Naruto Uzumaki survive, not after… not after that.

Soon, the Uzumaki's allies landed beside him, they were still about 100 meters away from the gigantic demon….it was a good distance…

"So, Naruto…any ideas on how to damage him?" Kakashi asked.

"Well…"Naruto looked at his right hand's palm. "There's one that might be able to destroy him."

"We can't destroy him!" Hinata shouted, surprising the other team members.

"What do you mean, Hinata?" Guy asked, still unhappy for not fighting the Sand Clones.

"Earlier I tried to tell Naruto Kun but…I used my Byakugan on the monster and…inside him…Gaara is inside him!" Hinata said.

"Wait…inside him? What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Near his chest area, there is a dome of sand there and inside it is Gaara…he looks unconscious…"

"I see…" Naruto nodded as he sheathed back his katana. The Shukaku knew that if he let Gaara ostay on his forehead like last time he would be easily defeated, so instead he created a dome of sand, big enough so there was a lot of air that Gaara could breathe, but still well protected inside his chest.

"I have something. It might work…" Naruto said.

"What have you got in mind, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"A jutsu, strong enough to destroy its sand body…the problem is that there is also the possibility of it getting Gaara as well…still, unless anybody here has a better idea it's a risk we have to take."

Nobody argued.

"It's the best we have…" Kakashi sighed.

"I will need two minutes to prepare it." Naruto said. "Can you guys protect me while it gets ready?"

"Do not worry, Naruto!" Guy shouted with his nice guy pose. "We won't let anything touch you in this next two minutes."

"Right…" Naruto sweat dropped as he watched the team assume their positions in front of him. The boy looked at Shukaku but it seemed that the demon was only watching him, waiting and planning his next move.

Naruto took a deep breath. "Ok…let's do this…only three steps…" He formed a Rasengan in his right hand and focused chakra on his left. He then started hitting the Rasengan in strategically points with chakra pumped through his left hand, making the sphere spin faster and faster until he was able to get to the next step.

The young Uzumaki put his left hand's palm on top of the Rasengan and started on it focusing his three chakra natures: Wind, Fire and Lightning. Once he had done that the Rasengan became a white sphere of light, spinning at an incredible rate. The second step was finished.

Now the final step was the longest one, Naruto raised his left hand once again and formed a ring of chakra with his fingers, he then carefully added the ring into the sphere, and started pumping chakra into it.

Seeing the technique The Ichibi's eyes widened. He could feel the destructive power from where he was. The demon definitively needed to stop the boy before he managed to complete whatever he was preparing.

"AIR BULLET!" The one tailed Raccoon shouted as he launched a sphere made of wind towards Naruto and his team.

Kakashi was about to move when a hand stopped him. "Leave this one to me, Kakashi!" Guy said while giving his rival a youthful thumbs up before entering his battle stance…" Fifth Gate: Gate of Pain! OPEN!" Instantly Guy's skin turned red and his eyes' pupils disappeared.

The taijutsu master disapeared in tremendous speed and reappeared high in the air, landing a kick against the Air Bullet and changing its course so it exploded far from there.

"DAMN YOU! AIR BOMB BARRAGE!" The Shukaku opened his arms and out of them, hundreds of air bombs flew towards the Shinobi team.

"Not on my watch! Sixth Gate: Gate of Joy! OPEN!" Guy answered as he opened yet another of the Eight Inner Gates. "Morning Peacock!" The Jounin's fists were then set ablaze as he desperately punched the air and various fireballs flew out of his hands to meet with the hundreds of Air Bombs, causing small explosions to happen every time both attacks met.

Might Guy then fell down to the ground panting.

"Are you ok, Guy?" Kakashi asked his rival.

"Yes! You didn't think my youth would be so easily overwhelmed, now did you, Kakashi?!" He youthfully (and rhetorically) asked.

"ONE MORE TIME! AIR BOMB BARRAGE!" The Shukaku shouted, repeating the attack.

"Sakura fast! Earth Style: Mud Wall!" Kakashi shouted, raising a wall in front of Naruto, who was still focusing on his jutsu.

"Yes, sensei! Earth Style: Mud Wall! "Sakura imitated her sensei, causing another wall to appear and join her sensei's.

The Air Bombs fell down to the ground, producing small craters everywhere they exploded. Eventually the two mud walls were not enough and after four Air Bombs they were completely destroyed.

"Eight Trigrams: Rotation!" Hinata shouted as she jumped in front of Naruto and spun her body creating a rotating chakra shield around her that deflected most of the Air bombs that came towards her.

However, the attack soon came to an end and Hinata was left defenseless midair, with an Air Bomb flying towards her.

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" A familiar voice shouted behind the group. A flying wave of chakra then met with the air bomb, making it explode, throwing Hinata back, she was fortunately caught by a green blur before she landed roughly on the ground.

"Lee! Neji! Tenten!" Guy shouted as he saw his students. Tenten opened up one of her scrolls and various kunai, knives and swords flew towards the last few air bombs and intercepted them, causing series of small explosions.

"And I get nothing?" Kiba asked, arriving last on top of Akamaru.

"Thank you, Lee-Kun." Hinata said as she got out of Lee's arms to be received by Neji who came to see if she was OK.

"Thirty more seconds!" Naruto announced with a smile. "Im almost done!"

He immediately regretted it.

The Shukaku was now desperate to kill them, the cost was unimportant, what mattered was their death."UZUMAKI NARUTO!" The demon shouted. "YOU HAVE MADE ME ANGRY, NARUTOOOO!" The Sand Beast roared skyward and suddenly a black chakra orb started forming in his mouth.

Kakashi's eyes widened. That attack….could it be the one his Sensei had spoken of once…? The one he had based the Rasengan of…?

"That chakra…" Neji said with his Byakugan activated. "Such dense chakra...if such chakra is detonated…" The boy didn't finish his thoughts.

"What do we do now?" Guy asked the other team members.

"Well, there is a way…Stand back." Kakashi announced as he pulled up his Forehead Protector revealing his three tomoe Sharingan.

"Kakashi Sensei…what are you planning to do…?" Sakura asked.

"Just stay back…you'll see…" The Copy Ninja repeated and the team obeyed.

"TEN MORE SECONDS!" Naruto announced again, the white sphere's chakra now violently escaping his palms.

"Tailed Beast Bomb!" The Shukaku shouted as he launched the Black Sphere towards the team.

"Now then…" Kakashi calmly said as he closed his right eye and his left Sharingan eye started spinning at a fast rate until it formed a three bladed scythe that spun clockwise. "KAMUI!" The Copy Ninja shouted staring intensely at the Tailed Beast Bomb.

Reality seemed to bend itself as a black hole was formed in the sky. The Black Hole sucked in the bomb and once it closed it produced quite an impact by itself, letting out a strong gust that raised dust on the battlefield where the team was.

"Its done…" A voice announced amidst the dust cloud.

Once it was clear to see once again everybody looked at Naruto, his lips curved in his traditional smirk as he looked into the Shukaku's eyes. His right hand held a pure white glowing Rasengan that seemed to release so often small bolts of electricity, flickers of flame or gusts of wind. The Rasengan was surrounded by a transparent ring that extended the jutsu to the size of a shuriken.

"This is my trump card." Naruto told the group as well as the demon. "I like to call it the Rasenring."

**Author's Note: Damn, it feels like i havent updated this fanfic for centuries when i only skipped a week...well, i am truly sorry for that...i was just writting a bit on my new project...**

**Well, now for Naruto's trump card...the Rasenring...it actually exists, look it up, its used by Menma in the sixth movie, Road to Ninja, except this is a modified version of it.**

**Also, Sakura and Hinata's abilities to use other jutsus comes from the thought that they trained hard so they could bring back Naruto.**

**And the pool has been closed, Naruto's third ellement shall be lightning.**

**I havent got much else to say and im in a hurry, i am curently writting the autor's note in an airport PC, so i have to be quick or i'll miss my flight.**

**Before we go on to the question of the day, consider that Sasori is dead and Tobi is akatsuki.**

**QOTD: What Akatsuki should be the one that fights Naruto?**

**Also, the edited version of previous chapters are being finished, ill soon post them.**

**So that's that for the AN, please leave a review with your thoughts/predictions/QOTD answers, thank you.**


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